


Dare to love her

by Fourtros



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, F/F, Gen, Useless Lesbians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:22:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29989032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fourtros/pseuds/Fourtros
Summary: "Chaeyoung turned around and saw this girl all angry staring attentively at her from head to toe. Judging her look."How are you a girl?" she implied."Excuse me?" Chaeyoung wasn't having it."Yeah, you heard me. What part of you could possibly be a girl?! look at your clothes! your hair and-". oh no."
Relationships: Chou Tzuyu/Minatozaki Sana, Chou Tzuyu/Son Chaeyoung, Hirai Momo/Kim Dahyun, Hirai Momo/Myoui Mina, Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon, Minatozaki Sana/Son Chaeyoung, Myoui Mina/Son Chaeyoung
Comments: 14
Kudos: 79





	1. So you're a girl

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is a michaeng au based on the thai movie "Yes or no" (strongly recommended) but has many many different things. the movie was just the source of inspiration.  
> English is not my first language so I'm sorry for all the mistakes you might find.  
> Hope you like it.

"yes, mom, love you too"

"no, I'm okay, don't worry" she stated through the phone for her mother to finally hang up. Mina had recently got to her new room at the dorms, her mother called to know if her request to change rooms had been approved. It was.

Over the last months Mina had been sharing a room with this girl, Sana, who even thought she seemed nice, made Mina feel uneasy about having to share a room with someone who was a little different. Let's say Mina wasn't fond of having a lesbian for roommate and so, she asked for a change to the dorm supervisor giving some lame excuses as reasons for the sudden request. It's hard to actually get the petition accepted but somehow she managed. Fate seemed to be helping her.

Therefore here she was, with some heavy bags that contained her clothes and other necessary stuff for her new room, one floor below her old one.

The struggle to get with her things to the new place wasn't that bad, she would have appreciate the help but it was good exercise so she didn't mind after all.

Outside the door she searched for the keys she was given but then decided it was better to knock since she didn't know if her new roommate had been informed of her arrival and didn't want to disturbed her on the very first day of knowing her.

After knocking three times she waited but there was no answer nor movement or noise coming from the inside. " _I guess she's not here then_ " she thought, and use the new key to open.

It was a simple nice room, just like her old one and every room of the building, nice space, two beds, two little night tables, one space with a table to study and a bathroom near the door. A big window next to the beds gave a nice view of campus and access to a little balcony. Mina liked this, as her old room didn't have this.

Mina felt everything was going as planned and the autumn trees you could see through the window were making her feel much at peace. She was a simple girl, enjoyed the peace and quiet, staying in bed and hanging with her mom once in a while.

She had a great family, her parents loved her very much and had a great relationship with her and her brother. Since she was a little girl, they used to go to church, and even though she doesn't go anymore, the principles of her family sticked with her, and so the sexuality of her old roommate kind of made her feel weird to share her personal space with. Sana befriended Mina somehow, though, and Mina was okay hanging out with her or studying. But sharing a room? she was afraid of, and so was her mother when she found out.

So right now, leaving her bags in her new bed and looking through the window the beautiful leaves falling, she felt everything getting back in it's place.

"I could really get used to this view" she said to herself while turning around and starting to unpack. Mina noticed the bed on the left side was occupied so she was fixing her stuff at the right side.

As the time passed, the sun was setting and Mina had everything set up, so she decided to take a quick shower.

Mina enjoyed showers, they helped to freshen her head and acted as healing method. Nothing could posibbly ruin her mood, or so she thought.

Getting out of the shower she heard the door being open, she quickly wrapped a tower around her body and another one to her hair.

"time to meet my new roomie"

She had left her clothes outside the bathroom so she didn't have an option but to step outside, kinda awkward to meet like that but she was gonna have to get used to anyway, right? and of course they were both girls, it was only natural.

After opening the door and stepping outside, she made herself notice "Hi, sorry Im like this, I wasn't sure of when yo-" but she was suddenly interrupted by her own high pitch scream.

Oh.

She quickly got inside the bathroom again "What in the world are you doing here!?" she shouted through the door "Who are you?"

Mina had only taken one look outside the bathroom, there, by the bed, stood Chaeyoung, her new little but fierce roommate. Chaeyoung was wearing black clothes, a hoodie and some dark skinny jeans, she was casually dress and Mina had mistaken her for a boy. She wasn't.

"Hey there. uhm... sorry I scared you. This is my room, are you my new roommate? Mina herd her but couldn't process a thing Chaeyoung was saying.

"What?!"

"Could you come out?"

"I won't come out! you can't possibly be my new roommate. You're a boy"

"Oh" Chaeyoung understood now.

"I'm not a boy, my name is Chaeyoung. And I do live here, so, just come and get dressed I'll look away" Chaeyoung felt kinda hurt about being confused but understood the issue, however she was getting a little impatient.

Mina on the other hand was both ashamed and mad. Why? no idea.

She now needed to get out but didn't want to. "Oh God why me?"

Some minutes passed before she accepted her destiny and went out. As promised Chaeyoung was looking the other way, and so Mina quickly put on some clothes.

"Okay, ready" she said, her tone annoyed.

Chaeyoung turned around and saw this girl all angry staring attentively at her from head to toe. Judging her look.

"How are you a girl?" she implied.

"Excuse me?" Chaeyoung wasn't having it.

"Yeah, you heard me. What part of you could possibly be a girl?! look at your clothes! your hair and-"

What possessed Chaeyoung to do such a thing she didn't know but one thing for sure she was tired, had a long day and her new roommate yelling at her and questioning without reason wasn't something she needed right now, and so, she got closer interrumping her mid-sentence and lifting her hoodie up, showing only her bra for one long second.

Mina lost her words.

And Chaeyoung even though now kinda embarrassed, was glad a little silence was formed.

"So you're a girl"

"I'm Son Chaeyoung" she extended her hand.

Mina saw it but decided to ignore it, turned around and left without another word.

Outside the door she let out a big breath.

"I can't believe I left one lesbian to end up with another one, great"


	2. Left and right

Chaeyoung was completely dumbfounded. she had no idea what had just happened and she had no idea how to fix it. hell, it wasn't even her fault.

"She didn't even say her name"

Without knowing what to do about it, Chaeyoung just decided to wait and see how things will develop. She knew someone was moving into her room one of these days, she just didn't know exactly when.

Earlier that day, Chaeyoung had been fixing some schedule problems she had for the new semester. She was able to fix them all and everything seemed to fit perfectly for the start of her course, so she went to her room to rest a bit before her plans for the evening. She had no idea that was going to happened like it did.

She looked around the room searching for the startled girl's belongings, and she found her bags in the other bed. 'she seems like an organized girl, it'll be good to have things clean and neat around here' that was the only thing she could think positively for now, her old roommate was a mess. Chaeyoung didn't want to think about the outburst of her new roommate, it was kinda sad and also... embarrassing to remember what she had to do to prove her wrong. she didn't know what got into her, she was just pissed. there was nothing she could do about it now, so.

she looked for her phone and saw the time

3:16pm

it was still early, she had made plans at 6pm, she was meeting her best friend, Nayeon, they hadn't been able to hang out sooner and she really missed her. Chaeyoung kinda wanted to talk to someone about what had just happened so she texted her.

to nayeon💙3:20pm  
hey.

she waited for an answer just for a few minutes.

from nayeon💙 3:24pm  
hey, what's up?

to nayeon💙3:24pm  
r u busy? can we hang out sooner?

from nayeon💙3:24pm  
how much sooner?

to nayeon💙3:25pm  
like  
now

from nayeon💙3:25  
you really miss me.  
OK you can come to my room I'll wait.  
but take your time.

Chaeyoung didn't bother to reply

Due to the final exams from the previous semester and the holidays and family stuff, a month had passed since she last saw nayeon. Nayeon is older than Chaeyoung, but they get along pretty well, no one understands Chaeyoung like Nayeon does, they'd been friends for years now and they've become each other's safe space, so it was only natural for chaeyoung to go to her now. She wasn't feeling sad nor was she feeling angry, she just needed to talk about it because, well, it was kinda bothering her and Nayeon had the power to make her smile.

she grabbed her keys and looked around the room leaving a big breath before exiting through the door. Nayeon's room was in the other building so she had to walk a bit, it will help to clear her mind. Walking stepping on the fallen leaves she made her way to the other dorm.

she loved autumn. She loved every season, though. all of them had their own unique way of beauty and chaeyoung really appreciates beauty in all.  
that was one of the reasons of why she was studying arts, she really enjoyed capturing all those moments in canvasses and leaving her own significant mark in them. This campus was a pretty okay source of inspiration, it was not that big but big enough and had old structures but well maintained, it had a unique style that Chaeyoung found quite attractive, even though these last weeks she had been trying to draw people. Drawing people wasn't her strongest side so she had been trying, but it wasn't an easy task. Chaeyoung enjoyed painting landscapes and abstract things, even creating her own characters and magical lands. Maybe she'll ask nayeon to pose for her someday. Nayeon could turn out to be a pretty portrait as she was indeed beautiful. There's not enough words to describe her beauty and the fact that she is aware of her looks, make her even more gorgeous.

After some minutes, Chaeyoung was at the door of her friend's room, now more relaxed and excited to see Nayeon.

Before she could knock, the door opened and someone with messy hair quickly came out not noticing Chaeyoung and bumping with her shoulder.

"oh, I'm so sorry I didn't notice you there"

Chaeyoung looked up and realized who was talking to her.

"Jeongyeon, hi"

"Chaeyoung" she said kinda surprised "right, yes, uhm..."

"are you okay?"

Jeongyeon looked behind the door trying to find nayeon maybe "yeah, yes. I was just going, so you can uhm..." She hesitated.

At that moment Nayeon came to the door for Jeongyeon's rescue. "just go, you silly girl, I have plans with chaeyoung, hurry" She pat her shoulder and Jeongyeon smiled to Chaeyoung before finally leaving.

there was an awkward silence.

Chaeyoung decided to end it but suddenly nayeon embraced her with the strongest hug ever. "Oh how I missed you Chaengie!"

Chaeyoung immediately smiled

"I missed you too, now let go of me" She had to act tough.

"oh c'mom, you love this" she let go of her and they entered her room closing the door behind.

"not as much as you love hanging out with Jeongyeon" Chaeyoung decided to tease her.

Neyeon didn't even react. "well, maybe"

"oh" that answered surprised chaeyoung.

Nayeon and Jeongyeon met about a year ago here in campus. They are friends. But is much more complicated than that. You see, sometimes, it's hard for people to just do what they really want. And Nayeon, the best advice giver in the world, didn't know how to follow her own words. Everything around Jeongyeon always seemed like the most complicated thing ever and easy at the same time. Chaeyoung was convinced they were soulmates but her friend was just too stubborn.

They hadn't confess their feelings for each other, that chaeyoung knew, but now having seen messy hair jeongyeon she wasn't sure where they stand at the moment. She also knew it was a difficult subject for Nayeon so she couldn't just ask, she had to wait for her to tell her what was happening. And so she did. Kinda.

"yeah, exactly" Nayeon started "I didn't know you were gonna come early so I was hanging out with her, and then you messaged me so I kicked her out" Nayeon smiled proudly

"As if, you wouldn't do that to her"

"you'll be surprised"

"so, are you-"

"okay, yes, we kissed, no. she kissed me, or maybe I kissed her or-"

"woah, calm down, nervous Nayeon is not as nice as witty Nayeon"

Nayeon took a deep breath and let go

"why is it so hard, chaengie?"

The question broke chaeyoung's heart. She knew her friend's feelings were too pure and fragile and they had to be taken care of the right way, she was sure Jeongyeon could do just that but it was hard for Nayeon to fully trust her. Chaeyoung had come here to look for comfort but apparently she was going to be the one giving it, at least for today.

"hey, it's okay. You liked it didn't you?"

"Yeah, maybe too much"

"see, okay, then that's it" Chaeyoung put a hand on her friend's shoulder "You don't have to overthink it, just... trust yourself"

Nayeon looked at her friend  
"you've become wise, haven't you?" she joked "bet you learned that from me" The small trace of worry or sadness shown in nayeon's face seconds ago, it was vanished, she was quick like that when it came to showing her feelings.

"so when is the wedding?" Chaeyoung knew joking about it was the best for Nayeon right now.

"oh, shut up" she answered back. After a few seconds she added "you're not even invited"

And so they laughed together and joke about it until they both felt better. Chaeyoung decided not to tell anything about her new roommate, who knows, maybe things will get better and it was just a big misunderstanding. So she hoped to fix everything later that night. Right now all that matter was that she finally got to see Nayeon again, and that she was finally openly acknowledging her feelings, or maybe trying. She wished good luck to Jeongyeon.

Whatever plans they had were now gone, they had stayed in Nayeon's room eating snacks and watching Netflix until the sun set. It was now 8 pm and Chaeyoung decided it was time to face her worries and leave.

They said goodbye to each other and agreed to meet for lunch some time soon.

Chaeyoung now stood outside her own room, she didn't know if someone was inside and was hesitant to find out but she needed to do it sooner or later and it was her room first after all. So she opened without knocking and just made way to her bed and threw her things on it.

To her surprise, her roommate was indeed inside, she was sitting by the desk and seemed to be purposely ignoring her presence.

Chaeyoung looked at her for a while an then at her things, she had organized all of them, so she guessed she was staying. Changes of roommates were hard to get. Lost for words she just stood there.

Finally she gathered the courage to speak "would you tell me your name?"

The girl looked at her and then sighed

"Mina"

"only Mina?"

"Yes, only Mina"

'okay, so, Mina, that's a nice name for such a bad attitude' chaeyoung thought

"look, I'm sorry if I scared you, but you shouldn't have don-" Chaeyoung seemed to be getting interrupted a lot this day. Mina stood up suddenly shutting Chaeyoung, grabbed a red tape from her bag, and started sticking it to the floor, Chaeyoung just watched attentively.

She put it on the floor, like a division, leaving the room with two sides.

"I can't change rooms again, so this will do, you'll stay at your side and I'll stay at this side, left and right" Mina said. Her voice was soft in a way but firm.

"what about the desk?"

Mina realized there was only one desk. "you'll figure it out"

'I guess there's no worth fighting her' So Chaeyoung agreed "okay, and all of this is because I don't dress girly enough?"

"I don't care how you dress or not" Mina stated "I just don't want to get mixed up with you"

"what's wrong with me?"

"oh you know, your kind. deviant"

"look, I don't know what you're talking about and I'm pretty sure you're insulting me but I'm tired so I'll just ignore it for tonight, but now tell me," Chaeyoung came closer to the red tape on the floor almost crossing the line "how will I use the bathroom?"

Mina followed the line and realized the bathroom was on her side. acknowledging the problem she just said "you can go over it" She faked a smile "just for the bathroom"

' _how kind_ ' Chaeyoung thought "fair enough" she said last before going to sleep.


	3. That's karma

She fall asleep that night in a heartbeat.

After the settlement of her new room and the statement of her rules made loud and clear she had no energy left for too much tossing and turning. During the day it was also pretty tiring to move her bags around and the later organization of her belongings. Not to mention the most important event of her afternoon, the shock of meeting her new roomie.

This had drained all of her positive morning attitude. No matter how much she had liked the location or arrangement of the new place, there's no denying that she had left one inconvenient -her heartbroken raging lesbian ex roommate- for another one much more difficult to deal with.

She could deal with Sana. She just wanted to get involved with other more... normal people, at least as in having to share a room with. She even liked Sana. They were friends. She had been her roommate for a year, all their second year. Sana had such a positive energy but she got her heart broken too many times. Mina had the strong belief that the girl didn't even realised how she got herself into so much drama, but she always ended up crying at their room over how much she had messed up or how -whoever new girl was she seeing at the moment- didn't understand her heart at all. Mina found this quite annoying, the crying, no the broken heart part, because she still had some soul in her and she really hoped for Sana to find _the one_ even though she didn't quite understand or agreed with _her ways_.

Now Chaeyoung, was a completely different kind of awkward. Imagine she felt weird sharing a room with pretty nice cutesy hot mess Sana, who even though a lesbian, she was the girliest of them all, how was she feeling now having to sleep next to boyish tiny unashamed Chaeyoung. It's true she didn't know the girl at all but from what she could guess, that just wasn't what she wanted for a roommate.

After their encounter she had left the room and took a walk around campus going nowhere, really, but just talking to herself and frowning.

' _oh god'_

_'how could she just-'_

_'she?!'_

_'she really looked like a boy'_

_'I can't go back there'_

And she continued to debate with herself and relive the events just passed over and over again until she decided to march into the office of the rooms supervisor again and asked for another change of rooms.

She really really tried.

But her reasons were not nearly enough.

No one understood her position or how awkward it was for her.

"Mina I'm sorry, ok? you already got one and that's more than I can say for other girls that have asked me." the tired middle aged woman behind the desk told her after a pointless conversation. "you got your new roommate and if you don't like her for whatever reason there's nothing more I can do, just ignore her, would you? you guys don't have to see each other much, just at nigh, right? and barely. With classes and all" the woman finally stated.

Mina tried to argue but nothing seemed to help her case.

She gave up and decided to go back to the room. Chaeyoung wasn't there so she took the time to come up with her plan and fixed her stuff.

Now after a weirdly nice night of sleep she felt some light peeking through her eyes and after a minute or two finally sat on the bed waking up for real.

Looking around the room from her position, she realized Chaeyoung wasn't there. ' _an early bird this one'_

Mina was pleased with the reaction her new roomie gave her last night. She didn't objected to the rules and didn't make a sound after going to bed.

Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult to try and live a peaceful life in this room after all.

She looked at Chaeyoung's bed. It was nicely done and everything around was completely in order.

' _she's neat I'll give her that'_

She stood up, easily made her bed and took her phone

_11:08 am._

She had her firts classes at 2pm

_1 message from M. Sana_

_3 messages from Mom❤️_

_1 message from Momoring_

She decided to answer to the girls later and call her mom.

After 3 beeps the woman answered very excited.

"Honey, I sent you a text, you didn't answer. How are you doing?!"

"I'm doing fine, mom" She decided to keep her little inconvenient a secret "The room is nice"

"Oh how wonderful, I'm really happy you don't share a room with that other girl" Her mother sounded really grateful.

"Mom, Sana wasn't that bad..." Mina for whatever reason wanted to defend her-even though weirdly- friend.

"Oh you know what I mean, Mina" The woman urged "Just surround yourself with better people, like that Momo girl- how is she by the way?"

"Oh-" Mina seemed surprised by the sudden question, she didn't know how Momo was, they hadn't talked since the summer break and now for the star of the new semester she hadn't reached to her. "I'll see her today in class, she must be doing great, mom"

"That's nice, I like her. Well okay honey I'll leave you to it, get breakfast if you haven't, it's important to you" Her mom added quickly.

"Alright, love you" And she hang up.

Her mother could be a bit too much sometimes.

Now, Momo.

11:11am

_From momoring yesterday at 11:23pm_

_how dare you abandon me all summer🤨would I be seeing you in class tomorrow?_ _🤒_

_To momoring 11:12am_

_don't make such a big deal. let's meet for lunch before class._

_f_ _rom momoring 11:12am_

_we have to talk I know what you did_ 🤠

Momo's emojis never made sanse. But she knew what they needed to talk about. Momo probably heard from Sana about how she had changed rooms, and she could figure out the reason.

Sana might believe whatever silly excuses Mina came up with but Momo had noticed how she didn't like one bit Sana's relationships and the awkward way she acted whenever Sana brought the topic into a conversation.

Whatever.

She had the right to change rooms if she felt uncomfortable.

or did she?

because right now she was feeling more than uncomfortable and there didn't seem to be anything to help her.

Either way, she had to get used to it now.

Mina got up and went to the bathroom to wash her face and get ready for the day.

When she had gathered her things for the classes after lunch and checked the time, she head over the place Momo had text her to meet her. She said she was going to buy lunch for both of them and to find her in the outside tables near the campus cafeteria. Mina didn't feel like eating in the exterior but Momo had bought lunch so...

As she walked near the tables she spotted Momo quickly.

"Minari" a happy voice called for her.

She approached Momo and sat in front of her after giving her a big hug.

"I've missed you" Momo pouted.

Momo had bought two burgers and fries for lunch.

"this is what you call lunch?"

"hey is tasty"

"ok, I missed you too"

"I know you did, now eat" the older girl grabbed her food and started eating.

"did you buy something to drink?"

"oh yeah" Momo looked at her feet where she had a bag with two juice boxes, took them and gave one to Mina.

"Strawberry, nice" Mina smiled.

"So" Momo left her burger aside and looked directly at Mina's eyes. "Why did you do it?"

She felt the gaze of the girl making her face slightly red and looked away.

"You know"

"I don't want to believe it"

"It is what it is" Mina looked again at Momo

"Is not like that, Mina, we are all friends, you can't just leave your roommate because of who she likes" Momo began "and it doesn't make sense at all because she's your friend I know she is, we are supposed to trust and care for each other"

Both Mina and Momo were pursuing a business degree but they had also both entered dance classes on their second year and Sana was also there. As Sana recognized her roommate, she approached them and that's how the friendship began. At the beginning nothing seemed out of the ordinary for Mina, she liked her new friends but soon after a couple weeks, she started noticing Sana's ways with simple comments like

_'oh she is so beautiful'_

_'wow, I need to get her number'_

_'yah, Momo did you see that girl?_ '

_'the possibilities of getting a girlfriend are higher this year'_

Mina didn't dare to say anything directly at her but something did shift when she realised how Sana was a hopeless lesbian. And Momo noticed it too.

Did Sana realised?

If she did, she didn't show it.

Momo and Sana started too get along as well as Momo and Mina and sometimes even more due to Mina's absence or excuses to not hang out with Sana as much as they originally used to. But either way they still called each other friend and they continued with their second year. Now at the first semester of their third year, the first big undeniable homophobic act of Mina had happened, she changed rooms.

Ever since they had known about Sana's sexuality Momo had had to act as a sort of balance, in between, voice of reason, explaining Mina that nothing was wrong with that or voice of comfort, reassuring Sana that everything was okay and she didn't have to worry. It seemed to work for the most part but now?

"you have to apologize" Momo finally stated.

"I know we are friends," Mina tried "But, Momoring, you know how she..."

"Mina there's nothing wrong with her-"

"I know, I know," Mina cut her off. "But we shared a room, what if she fell in love with me or something?"

"So what?" Momo laughed at her "you're not that pretty, you know?"

"You know you are lying, but okay, I can't apologize, Sana doesn't know the real reason I left"

"Mina, I think she knows, she has been pretty sad, we talked."

"oh"

Mina had been really selfish with everything and it was kind of hard for her sometimes to get other people's feelings into consideration.

"You know..." Mina began "if I could go back I would."

Momo looked at her with a confused face

"For real"

"what? but why? Is your new roomie an infatuated lesbian too?"

Mina kept quiet.

"NO WAY" Momo shouted. "THERE'S NO WAY" She seemed to find this really funny as she choked on her saliva from laughing too hard.

"Don't laugh" Mina was embarrassed "that's not the worst part" she said almost in a whisper.

Momo calmed herself down and stared attentively at her friend signaling for her to continue

And that's how Mina told her the whole messy story from yesterday not leaving any detail forgotten.

"Girl, THAT'S KARMA" Momo shouted making mina uncomfortable. "How could you confused her with a boy?" 

"She's a complete tomboy, momoring" Mina cried. 

"Oh God and she had to lift her hoodie up, that's a badass move, I like her already, when should I meet her" Momo reasoned quite fast "What's her name again?"

"Who cares!" Mina complained. "you're not helping"

"okay okay but... you just saw how she dresses, and her hair, like," Momo tried to reason with her "you have no idea if she actually likes girls or something"

"Of course she does, Momo, you didn't see her, it was obvious"

"there's no such a thing as obvious" Momo tried again "unless you have a _gaydar,_ you know, gay people have really good ones, maybe you ha-"

"Don't be stupid" Mina answered slightly worried "don't go around saying those things, I don't have anything related to _that"_

 _"_ Except a friend"

"Right" Mina remembered.

"You sure have a magnet for them, don't you?" Momo teased her.

"What? no, don't say that. I still have you" Mina didn't like how her friend was so open with all of this

"Sure" Momo smiled weirdly. "Okay but, let me get this _straight_ , you made a line?"

"yes"

"with tape?"

"yeah"

"on the floor"

"mmh hm"

"and she didn't protest?"

"nope"

"not at all?

Mina was getting tired of all these question, she looked at the time and it was almost enough to get to class.

"Not at all, I don't know, we'll see, but Momo, we have to get to class. Stand up".

"But-"

"we can't talk later, hurry"

And that's how lunch ended. They went to class and left the topic for the time being. Mina felt at peace.

All she had to do now was wait and hope for things to not be that awkward.

We'll see.


	4. She smiled

Chaeyoung woke up for the first day of classes and before getting out of bed, decided that she was not going to let her new roommate get under her skin.

She even decided to try and befriend her.

Why not?

They for sure must have something in common. Mina seemed to be older than her but still. She gets along with older people, like Nayeon.

She turned around in bed and looked at the red tape a few steps from it. For some reason she wasn't mad. Yeah, it was all pretty weird and it didn't make sense at all. Mina had confused her for a boy, she understood that. She had short hair at the moment, just to try and see how she would look. She liked it but she kind of missed her long hair so she was going to let it grow, still she didn't think her looks were to be so easily mistaken as a boy, but it is true that when Mina saw her, she had an oversized hoodie, no make up on and everything covered. So yeah, it kind of made sense Mina's first reaction, but hadn't Chaeyoung made it pretty clear that she was a girl? why all this trouble?

 _'she thinks you're a lesbian'_ Chaeyoung thought.

She heard what mina had called her yesterday but decided to ignore it. The truth is she didn't feel like discussing her sexuality with some stranger. For Chaeyoung this wasn't a big deal, if she felt something for a girl or a boy she was not going to get scared or confused. That just would be it. You can't choose who you love, that's what she believed in. Many people have asked her to define herself but labels weren't Chaeyoung's thing, Chaeyoung's thing was love.

She is a complete sucker for love. 

She believes in fairy tales, she longs for the one, she won't kiss anyone just for fun, it has to mean something. 

She wants to hold hands with someone and walk under the moonlight, she wants to make her significant other smile, she wants to see them and feel her heartbeat increasing. That's what Chaeyoung wishes for.

So, yeah, she didn't say anything to Mina yesterday because clearly the girl has some issues and they would've just end up arguing and if Chaeyoung could avoid conflict, she was going to take that path. 

That's why before getting up, looking at that line, she decided she was going to play along, how hard could Mina's rule be? She was certain she could make the girl come to her senses. 

_'Yeah, there's really nothing wrong with me. I'm awesome.'_

Chaeyoung continued with the rest of her day, she got up making the least sound possible and left her room after having everything she needed. Her classes started at 10am and ended at 5pm.

She enjoyed her classes but still she was more than happy when the time on her phone indicated that there were only 5 minutes left.

When she got out of her last class and started walking towards her dorm, she felt the device vibrating in her pocket.

_4 unread messages_

She unlock it and saw the conversation

SMC🦅🐯

_from tzuyu🧡 5:02pm_   
_why am I not in the name?_

_from dahyun🤍 5:02pm_   
_because you left the group trying to make a dumb statement so we removed you_

_from tzuyu🧡 5:03pm_   
_but I came back_

_from dahyun🤍 5:03pm_   
_too late. Chaeyoungie should we meet for coffee tomorrow? how were your classes?_

Chaeyoung laughed at the silly argument, it's true Tzuyu had left the group just because and they had decided to remove her emoji. Now she needed to earn it.

_From chaeyoung🍓 5:03pm_   
_Sure thing, I'm free tomorrow :)_   
_just let me know_   
_today was good_   
_how about you?_

_From tzuyu🧡_ _5:04pm_  
 _don't flirt in front of me_

_from dahyun🤍 5:04pm_   
_youre just jealous_

_from chaeyoung🍓5:04pm_   
_you can join us too, tzuyu_   
_only if you don't leave the group again_

Tzuyu and Dahyun were Chaeyoung's classmates and friends from high school, they had graduated together and entered the same university. They were pursuing different majors but still most of the time they spend it together. They also got along with Chaeyoung's best friend, Nayeon. So sometimes when they all got together they were a group of six, the School meal club, and Nayeon with Jeongyeon and her roommate and friend, Jihyo.

You could say Chaeyoung is surrounded with amazing people, she really loves all her friends. They never failed to make her smile.

But now, she got to her room, ready to make the best out of this situation, so she opened the door with determination. 

' _the boss is not home'_

She felt relieved but at the same time disappointed, she wanted to talk to Mina so the girl could see how nice of a roommate she could be. And to make her regret this silly treatment.

She got to her bed and took her sketchbook to doodle something.

Maybe an hour had passed when she felt the door being opened.

She lifted her head up and made direct eye contact with the girl at the door. She could see how the girl immediately changed her normal relaxed gaze to a completely serious one.

Today Chaeyoung was not wearing any oversized hoodie, and she had put some make up on, but she still was wearing a yellow flannel.

"Hi" Chaeyoung greeted her.

Silence.

' _okay tough crowd'_

Mina got to her own bed and left her things before sitting at her desk to maybe study.

The time passed and Chaeyoung decided to try again

"how was your first day of classes?"

Nothing.

 _'well, this may be more difficult than I-'_  
Chaeyoung's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden growling

A stomach growl.

She moved her hands to her own stomach but then looked up, to the actual source of the sound, Mina was looking at her stomach too. The girl probably hadn't eaten.

Another sound was made, and this time Chaeyoung looked directly at the girl, who turned around and caught how Chaeyoung was looking at her with an entertained face. She could see how Mina felt slightly embarrassed.

Chaeyoung suddenly got up and gave a couple steps until she was on the tape line, walking above it moving towards the door she tried again

"I'm gonna go get something to eat, do you want anything?

She could see how Mina hesitated but still the girl remained in silence. So Chaeyoung walked down the line trying to maintain the balance as if it were a hard task and left the room.

She went to a place nearby and bought some tteokbokki and two drinks, she knew Mina was not going to accept the food but still, she was not giving up.

Why?

Who knows.

Either way she got back to find the girl in the same position, she could see how the smell of the recently made food got to her senses.

She removed the plastic bag and left one portion right on top of the tape line with the respective drink and some chopsticks. 

she got to her bed an proceed to eat. But not in silence.

She made sure to let the girl know how tasty her food was with every bite.

"Really you should try this" she hummed "there's yours"

But the girl kept ignoring her so Chaeyoung did the best next thing, once she had finished her food, went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, wash her face and put on her pajamas, when she returned she could see Mina looking at the food with the corner of her eyes.

"Well, it was nice talking to you" she lied "Good night, Mina" and she got to bed around 8pm 

After some minutes had passed, she could hear the girl finally moving, she knew she was never going to eat the food if she were there so went to "sleep" to let the stubborn girl's pride untouched. 

Still Chaeyoung opened one eye carefully just in time to see Mina taking the food and smiling a bit.

It was tiny smile.

but still, she smiled.


	5. Right?

She had to admit

The girl had courage.

Apparently she was determined to make Mina like her.

She also had to admit

She had liked the food

That's why the next morning, when both of them had got up around the same time to get ready, Mina turned around before reaching the door to go out and simply stated

"Thanks for the food"

And she left.

Today Mina had two classes and then she had agreed to meet with Momo and Sana. She was afraid of what to tell Sana.

_'Hi, yeah sorry I changed rooms because I couldn't live with someone like you'_

' _oh, don't worry now a live with someone worse, maybe I can introduce you two'_

_'no, it wasn't you it was me'_

Yeah that didn't seem right.

Maybe she didn't have to say anything, she would stay quiet, but Momo had insisted.

So here she was, her classes had finished and they decided to meet at the study hall, in some table near the end of the room where there wasn't much people, only a few.

She was the first one there, apparently. She took a sit and threw herself on the table to rest a bit while waiting.

Soon enough she felt a hand tapping her head, it was Momo.

She looked up and saw the two girls, Sana made eye contact with her and smiled like she always did.

She was really pretty.

"Hey" Momo was the first one to speak. "We got you coffee"

"Thanks" was all she could say.

As she took the coffee she could feel the tension, or maybe it was her own guilty conscience making it feel like it, because Momo and Sana sat in their own chairs and started talking about their day so far as if nothing was bothering them.

"How were your classes, Mina?" The sweet voice reached her ears, Sana's voice was really something else.

She knew it was time to say something related to why they weren't roommates anymore.

_'C'mon Mina you can do this, you just have to say sorry'_

_'But what am I sorry for? I'm not sorry, it was really awkward'_

_'You don't mean that, you are better than this.'_

_'But mom didn't like me living with her... AND I DIDNT EITHER, GOD! she's not normal, poor thing, she's so nice, bet she didn't wanted to be like that, there must be some sort of reason for- WOW, Mina, that's low. I DONT-'_ The self-debate was interrupted by her own actions as she didn't realized how hard she was holding her cup of coffee and some of it fell down and burned her hand.

"Ouch" She let out out loud.

"Are you okay?" Sana asked with a concerned look.

"Mina, get yourself together" Momo stated with a serious face as if she knew exactly what was going inside the girl's head.

So Mina began "Sana I wanted to tell you that-"

"Well my classes were okay, I have a new teacher that's really funny" Sana had interrupted her mid-sentence.

Both Momo and Mina gave her a confused look and the girl tried again

"That's really cool, Sana, but I was wondering if you-"

"Oh yeah and also, dance classes start next weak, you'll be there right?" Sana asked both of them.

Momo now looked at Mina as if saying, 'see she knows'

Clearly the girl didn't wanted to talk about it, so Mina didn't tried again and just said "Yeah, we'll be there"

"Great, I'll see you guys" And then she got up, grabbed her things, blew a kiss to Momo and smiled to Mina before leaving with rapid steps.

Mina was confused.

She had never before stopped to think about how other people might feel because of her actions.

But sweet Sana had got to her. How could she have done this to her? Maybe she didn't think it through.

But she had. She just didn't like to live with the girl.

But why?

It was complicated. She had always been told how it was wrong to like the same sex, she knows that is wrong. Sana is wrong. It doesn't matter how sweet and pure and nice and pretty the girl was, she still was wrong.

Right?

The second internal debate Mina had have that day in less than five minutes was interrupted by Momo

"You know, she is too nice sometimes"

"I know" Mina answered. She knew she really did, Sana didn't deserve this. But, which part? Being gay or the treatment Mina had given her?

"Then why?" Momo asked her once again, looking directly at her eyes as if pleading for an answer that made sense.

Mina kept quiet. She had already had this conversation, she was not going to give a proper answer now. She was really confused and was not going to make sense. She needed to rest for a bit. Sana had messed with her mind.

"Mina, don't you think you-?" But Mina had already stood up and was heading to the front door.

When she was outside the room, she grabbed her phone and texted Momo

_To momoring_   
_Sorry, we'll talk another day_

But that day never came. Not soon it didn't.

Two weeks passed since that exchange of words and how it affected her mind.

She kept going to classes, studying, and not once had she referred to the girl she shared a room with. Chaeyoung had bought her dinner a couple times again, and had acquired this silly routine of walking down the red tape as if was a difficult and she kept trying to make conversation with her.

Dance classes were awkward but she still went because dancing brought to her some sense.

Momo had tried to talk to her about how she was feeling but she just ignored everything. The three of them fell in their old routine of ignoring if Mina felt awkward towards Sana and apparently Sana was okay with not bringing the topic out.

Momo and Sana were fine. They had each other. But what Mina couldn't understand now was that she also could rely on them.

She was too proud to admit how confused she felt. She was feeling guilty and she hadn't make any comment, interaction or weird look towards Sana ever since that day. Actually she tried to not talk with both of them at all.

Momo still tried a lot, though. And by text too, she even had made Mina pretty clear that she understood whatever was going through her mind- which she didn't according to Mina- and that it was okay if she needed time for herself

Which she did.


	6. Minatozaki Sana

Sana knew.

She knew ever since she started being opened about her inclination towards girls with her new friends. She started with simple innocent comments, but Mina had reacted immediately.

It took Momo a minute though, but that's fine because Sana could see some of her in the girl too.

Sometimes she got lost in thought wondering if Momo would ever realised how easily she could follow her conversations about pretty girls, or how sometimes Momo herself would stopped and looked attentively if some cute girl was walking by.

Or even how sometimes Momo would get distracted just by looking at Mina.

Yeah, Sana knew all too well.

But she didn't wanna hear lame excuses or empty apologies. She had lost too many friends because of who she was. And even though Mina didn't act in front of her, just behind her back, it still hurt sometimes. But Sana had decided she was not gonna let that get to her, she somehow knew the girl's intentions weren't bad, she just had a different way of thinking.

Maybe she'll make her change her mind, she tried to be so nice to Mina, but still, she changed rooms. Maybe she had been too nice? Too friendly? Sana really liked to show physical affection, and she had had a real hard time not giving any to Mina, because all her hate aside, she really liked the girl as a friend.

That day at the study hall, she had seen how Mina was having a hard time trying to apologize, but she didn't exactly know if it was out of shame or because she didn't want to apologize.

Either way she didn't want to hear it, because there was nothing the girl could say that would excuse her behaviour and Sana knew Mina wasn't ready to change all her background beliefs just for her. That's why she changed topics and left in a hurry.

Avoiding all serious matters.

But ever since that day, something had shifted in Mina once again, she could feel that. But why?

Two weeks had passed and she would hang out with Momo as usual and they would see Mina at their dance lessons but now every time she said gay stuff, or you know just be her usual self, Mina would do nothing.

She wouldn't say something mean, she wouldn't act grossed out, she just wouldn't react at all. Why?

Before, whenever that happened, Mina would also complain to Momo in secret and Momo would tell Sana all about it adding excuses and arguments in favor of the girl.

' _wow momo you really are in love'_ But she wouldn't say that. Because the girl hadn't realized and she was not going to spoiled it for her.

So yeah, Sana knew all about Mina's behaviour and now she wondered what had happened, because Momo hadn't told her a thing, she claimed she had no idea, just that Mina was distant and constantly lost in thought and hadn't say anything homophobic at all, which was weird.

But why?

As she couldn't take it anymore, because she was sure it had something to do with that day at the study hall, she was now standing outside Mina's new room and was determined to ask the girl how she was feeling.

She took a deep breath and knocked two times.

*  
*  
*

When Mina felt the door, she looked at Chaeyoung who was completely lost in whatever she was drawing so she got up to open it.

To her surprise it was Sana. The source of all her mind glitches lately. The overload cuteness that had messed with her head.

"Hey" The girl greeted her with her big unique smile.

Mina wasn't ready to talk to her but still, she moved and guided her inside her room.

But whatever Sana was going to say to her or whatever reasons she had for coming to see her were not showing, because as soon as Sana had got inside her room she fell completely silent, with a love-strucked silly look and a big smile.

' _Oh God, this can't be happening'_

Sana was looking directly at Chaeyoung, who was still drawing on top of her bed, with her short hair covering some part of her face and she was wearing the same hoodie from the day they had met.

Chaeyoung apparently noticed the movement around her and looked up, giving a glance to Mina and then looking at Sana giving her a quick smile.

Mina wanted to screamed at her. All this time she had been wondering if whatever treatment she had given the girl was wrong or if she had it all wrong, she had been feeling guilty and utterly confused, but now, standing right in front of her was the same girl and seeing her completely lost just because she had met her roommate, gave her the strength to came back to life and stopped this nonsense.

She was not wrong.

This was all a big joke.

She had deserved to change rooms, she wanted to change rooms now, too.

"What's wrong with you?" Mina whispered really loud.

"Won't you introduce us, Mina?" Sana asked unashamed

Mina could not believe this. She was mad.

It seemed Chaeyoung realized Mina was not going to say anything, so she took it upon herself to get up and extend her hand to the girl.

"HI, I'm Son Chaeyoung, Mina's favorite roommate" She joked.

Sana hadn't left her dumb state so she just took the hand and said

"Minatozaki Sana" And smiled once again.

Mina wanted to throw out.

But Chaeyoung beat her to the bathroom because as she left Sana's hand she politely bowed before passing her and head to the bathroom, making sure to take a big unnecessary jump before crossing the line and getting to the bathroom leaving the two friends alone.

Mina slapped the girl's shoulder

"Yah, what's wrong with you, seriously."

"Mina, your new roommate it's gorgeous"

"What?!" Mina didn't want to hear any of it. "You can't be serious right now"

"She is. How old is she? She is so cute too."

"I have no clue, I don't like her, with her here, I miss being your roommate"

That seemed to take Sana out of her state.

"Oh yeah," Sana finally composed herself. "About that, I just wanted to say that I don't mind you changed rooms. Really, I understand how you think and..."

Mina could see her friend struggling. Once again she wanted to scream but now because how the girl made her feel so guilty. Maybe because she was.

Mina had given this a lot of thought in this weeks. There really was nothing wrong with Sana.

Sana was such a great friend she even was standing right here apologizing for being human. Just to make everything easier on Mina.

She had made a decision.

"Sana, I'm so sorry." The girl began " you don't have to say anything just, I'm sorry for how I've been acting towards you all this time and for changing rooms too, well you can see how that backfired but, still. I've decided I.." She hesitated but continued "I've decided that even though I don't fully support you know... _that_. Uhm... I know you don't care if I do or not but, Yeah, I'm your friend and I'll try to learn,-" Mina was a mess "Or behave, uhm, support you. I- really there is nothing wrong with you I-"

But Sana understood, that Mina wasn't there yet but she wanted to, and that was enough for her, so she decided to end the girl's misery and shitty apology with some comment that she knew was going to make the girl regret everything she had just said.

"Mina it's okay, just get me your new roomie's number and I'll forgive you." Sana winked.

For the third time that day, Mina wanted to scream.

And this time she didn't stop herself.

"YAH, SANA! I was trying to- GOD"

"Okay, okay, calm down. Get this, I really don't care what things you say about me, but I do care for our weird cute amazing friendship, the three of us, so, whenever you feel awkward around me, just say it, out loud, I'll probably answer something very smart." The girl proudly said. "I rather have you complaining with me than at my back, it's fine, I bet it'll be a hundred times more fun to have your unintended homophobia in display, I could defend myself, really, it's not a big deal, Mina, I know you want to stop feeling that way, and I'm sure Momo would appreciate it too"

"So you are just telling me to be homophobic at your face?"

"Yeah, sure" Sana smiled "You might be able to hear how dumb it sounds"

Mina was going to protest but decided not to. She believed this was the weirdest way of accepting an apology, but okay. She was going to be honest with Sana, and maybe their friendship could be way better.

"I'll be leaving now, say goodbye for me, would you?" She got closer to Mina and gave her a quick hug before disappearing through the door.

At that moment Chaeyoung got out of the bathroom, and got back to her bed as always by challenging her balance on the tape.

_'Silly'_

"She seems nice"

"Yeah, you like her? She has a big crush on you now" Mina stated coldly.

Mina didn't realized but this was the longest sentence she had directed to the girl, leaving the day they first met aside. So Chaeyoung was surprised, she kind of had got used to talk to the girl without an answer.

And Mina didn't stop there

"I thought I'll introduce you two as a joke, now she really wants to get to know you, god, it's so weird and" Mina probably realised by now how much she was talking and directed a question to her roommate "You would like that, wouldn't you?"

Mina sat on her bed looking at Chaeyoung who was also sitting on her own bed, both now were looking at each other the only thing between them was the red tape and a few meters.

"Why would I?"

"You like girls, don't you?"

"I don't" Chaeyoung answered calmly

"Yeah, right" Mina spat

"What makes you say that?"

"Well you... look like you"

Chaeyoung laughed "That's really judgemental, Only Mina"

Mina huffed at the way she had called her, remembering their first encounter when she had stated that her name was only mina.

"Myoui"

"Excuse me?" Chaeyoung didn't quite get that.

"Myoui Mina" She decided that if she was going to try and be better about all this gay issues, and her luck kept sending her sapphic roommates she might as well tried with Chaeyoung too, just a bit.

The girl had been nice to her after all.

"Nice to meet you" Chaeyoung teased.

"This doesn't mean anything" Mina objected "I'm just thankful for the food. And also, I couldn't keep seeing you doing a monologue every time I was around"

"Well I do talk to myself all the time too, so"

"Whatever" Mina groaned "Now, if you don't like girls, then you like boys?

Chaeyoung knew this question was coming, but she never was ready to answer it

"If I ever fall in love with a girl or a boy, I wouldn't mind"

"So you do like girls" Mina declared.

"Well why do you care so much?" Chaeyoung grinned "Wanna know if you stand a chance?"

Mina made a disgusted face "Not in your wildest dreams, Son Chaeyoung" This was the first time Mina had referred to Chaeyoung by her name.

And Chaeyoung had liked it.


	7. You got a fan club?

A month had passed since the start of the new semester.

Chaeyoung recently had her first evaluations and apparently she did great. Ignoring her awkward living situation of the first weeks, everything seemed to be okay now.

Since Mina had decided to speak to her, the task of befriending the girl had become much more easier, still a challenge though.

They wouldn't talk much, just when necessary but sometimes Chaeyoung would try her luck and asked silly question like some days ago when she said

 _"Hey, Mina do you like_ monkeys?"

To which Mina decided to ignore the question but then she looked how serious Chaeyoung looked and answered

_"I don't know if I do or not, but I really love penguins"_

And that was it. Chaeyoung was random like that. For sure she had a reason at the moment but out of context like what it looked like to Mina, well... Chaeyoung was really something.

She had also noticed how Mina was actually really quiet, she seemed to enjoy silence. It's true the girl gave a silence treatment to Chaeyoung for weeks and now they talked just a bit, but you could see how Mina wasn't quiet just because of Chaeyoung, maybe that's why it was so easy for her to just ignore the younger one. Pity she had to met her just screaming, because when she got to hear Mina's calm voice, she was sure she hadn't hear anything like it before. 

What you could really call a big win is that they had exchanged phone numbers.

But not just because, no, it had a very specific reason. As usual Chaeyoung would buy dinner for Mina sometimes, but she had to get to her room and then decided if she was going to do it or not by interpretating the girl's mood, Chaeyoung had got really good at it, and leave again. Now, she could just ask if the girl wanted anything and buy it before getting to the room.

But their text messages were just as weird as their exchanges in real life.

Some of her last texts a couple days ago went like this

 _To Only Mina_  
_M_  
_Mina_  
_A_ _re you i the dorms_  
_i_ _n*_

_From Only Mina_  
_Why do u not know how to type_  
_yes_  
_why_  
bring me fruit

_To Only Mina_  
_srry_  
_treat me nixe_  
_nice*_  
_ok_  
_strawberries_

  
And that would be it. Mina wouldn't start the conversation or finished it either. Somehow Chaeyoung would always messed up typing whenever writing to Mina, she was trying to fix that up.

The short girl was now sitting by the desk she had to get for herself, because the only desk they were supposed to have and share, Mina had appropriated. Somehow she had managed to get an extra one that was kind of old and was a little bit crooked but it worked either way. And yeah, she needed it because even though they had started to talk a bit and their interactions were human enough, Mina hadn't given up on separating the place, apparently she was still not comfortable sharing a room with "someone like Chaeyoung"

But she had heard a bit of the conversation Mina had with her friend some weeks ago, and she knew that Mina's intentions apparently weren't bad, she was just dense.

And stubborn

And proud

And had been taught a lot about hate.

Well, she had heard a lot about the conversation. But it was for the best. She now knew that Mina was trying to be okay with all homosexual activity.

And Chaeyoung had this ability of reading people quite well, except for when someone was flirting with her or showing them they had a crush on her, but still she could see how Mina probably didn't realise that her actions or words had consequences.

The thing is, it was Saturday, she was alone, and she hadn't made any plans so she was hoping for a text from one of her friends to save her from a boring afternoon.

That's when Nayeon called her. She took her phone with a big smile.

"About time" She breathed

"Yeah hello to you too"

"Would we go out?" she asked with a baby voice

"Yes, you don't need to convince me with cuteness, okay?"

"Yay" she celebrated throwing a fist up.

"We should get dinner, and then maybe some drinks, I don't know. But invite the girls, I'll pay, don't worry" Nayeon proposed

"Why thank you," Chaeyoung joked "you're really kind"

"I'll hang up now, bye" and that she did.

So she went to her messages and typed a quick invitation

SMC🦅🐯🤮

_From Chaeyoungie🍓_  
_hey guys, Nayeon is buying us dinner_

_From Tzuyu🧡_  
_when_

_From Dahyun🤍_  
_as if you're busy today or any other day_

_From Chaeyoungie🍓_  
_Just come to my room and we'll go together_

_From Tzuyu🧡_  
_okay_

Chaeyoung waited for half an hour when she felt some noises outside her room, more like voices bickering so she knew it was them.

She went to the door descending only by her side of the room, when Mina wasn't there she still respected the tape, out of habit maybe.

She opened the door just when Tzuyu was about to knock.

"Hi, come on in" Chaeyoung greeted both of them, retreating to her bed and leaving the girls to enter.

They had got in, but Tzuyu just kept looking at the red tape with a serious face. Dahyun on the other hand got with Chaeyoung on the bed.

"I've always loved your bed" she stated fully throwing herself next to Chaeyoung

"Maybe you just love it because I'm on it"

"Yeah maybe" and she snuggled closer to her friend.

"Wait" Chaeyoung suddenly said "I have to pee" and she left to the bathroom, leaving Dahyun complaining but respecting the line and then crossing it with a careful step as if she was doing something really forbidden. When she got out she did the exact same thing and got to her bed again, pushing Dahyun to the other side.

"Would you stop that?" Tzuyu suddenly  
snapped

"What?" Chaeyoung genuinely questioned

"That thing, with the line, she is not even here, you look ridiculous"

"Oh"

Chaeyoung had told them all about Mina some weeks ago over lunch with Nayeon. All six of the girls were there and she realized they didn't know about her new bestie and all the things that came along with it. So she told them everything from the first awkward encounter to the tiny progress they were having, which she was really proud of achieving for some reason, it was all a game to her but her friends didn't quite see it like that.

Jihyo, Nayeon and Tzuyu were furious at Mina.

It even took all of Chaeyoung's physical strength to keep Nayeon from going to her room just to _talk_ to the girl.

Dahyun and Jeongyeon were just laughing like maniacs over the fact that Chaeyoung had just accepted everything the girl said.

"Chaeyoung you can't just let her do that to you" Jihyo said really concerned

"I'm going to kill her, really, who does she think she is, my chaeyoungie is really dumb but no one can-"

"Okay, Nayeon you don't have to do that" Chaeyoung tried to calm everyone "She is not that bad, we get along now"

"You talk to her and she answers whenever she wants, she doesn't let you walk freely in your own room and she treats you as if you were a predator" Tzuyu argued with a serious face.

"We get along now" Dahyun mocked Chaeyoung words and Jeongyeon began laughing again.

"C'mon you too, it's not funny either"

"Chaeyoung I'm sorry, it's hilarious, okay yeah, the girl has some serious issues, she might be dealing with internalised homophobia for all we know, you can never be sure but, wow, you really are naïve"

Nayeon gave a nasty look to Jeongyeon and held Chaeyoung "Yeah, but she's our silly naïve little baby, that Mina girl better watches her back"

And they continued to discuss the situation, while Chaeyoung kept on giving excuses for her roommate's behaviour.

Now Tzuyu was calling her out again. She was thankful Mina wasn't here.

"Really, Chae, it's stupid, you are better than this"

"Tzuyu, c'mon, don't be like that, we know it's weird but Chaeyoung is dealing with it her own way" Dahyun decided to sit on the bed and give her opinion, to which Chaeyoung was grateful because she didn't know what to say to Tzuyu, the girl had really reacted negatively to all of this.

Chaeyoung decided this uncomfortable moment to text Nayeon for details while the other two girls argued.

_To Nayeon💙 5:35pm_  
_Tzuyu and Dahyun are arguing in my room, when should we get there_  
_and where is 'there'_

_From Nayeon💙5:35pm_  
_around 6 its okay, we'll meet at the place right outside campus_  
_with the cute lights_

_To Nayeon💙5:35pm_  
_Okay, see you:(_

_From Nayeon💙_  
_Cry baby_

Yeah. She was a cry baby.

"Okay we have to get there by 6 so we should get going in a bit" Chaeyoung calmly said to them as if they weren't arguing.

_'What a pair of goofs'_

*  
*  
*

Nayeon's exams complicated the girl's life more than they should have, that's why in this fine weekend, all exams finally done, she had decided to treat everyone for dinner. She needed a break, but mostly she needed to spent quality time with her favorite humans. 

She hadn't been able to see Chaeyoung much, most of her time was divided between classes, studying and well, Jeongyeon. But nothing was going the way she wanted. 

She was really loosing it. Nayeon may seemed like a very compose person, but recently she was struggling more than one should. And all of her energies seemed to run out because of one simple reason. 

Yoo Jeongyeon.

The girl was driving her crazy. Nayeon was a hard to get girl. She used to make it really difficult for the both of them but recently she was so done, she started really trying, but Jeongyeon was just not helping at all. It didn't matter how much she tried and leave her hand hanging, carefully touching the other girl's hand when they were walking, just so she could take it. It didn't matter how much she cuddled up to Jeongyeon when they were watching a movie. It didn't matter how much she would teased the other girl. Jeongyeon just wouldn't react. 

Yeah, they had kissed. Once. It was really great for Nayeon but apparently the other girl didn't want to try again or something, because after their kiss, nothing else happened, they didn't talk about it and everything came back to their same old routine. 

That's why Nayeon was really loosing hope. Wasn't she enough? Had she read it all wrong? She had no idea what was going inside the other girl's mind. She could always ask, but that wasn't Nayeon's forte. 

_'Communication, what a joke.'_

So today she was going to go out with her friends, and yeah that also meant Jeongyeon but she could always ignore her, and have a great time. Right?

_'No dumb beautiful frustrating gorgeous stupid kind slow girl is going to mess with me.'_

She texted to her group chat of three, with Jeong and Jihyo to let them know about the plans she had made. They really needed to make of group with the six of them but she was to lazy to, so maybe one day someone would have the time. She put on some nice casual clothes and some light make up before checking herself in the mirror one last time 

_'It's her own fault she's missing this masterpiece'_ She winked at herself and left for the Bar and Grill place she had agreed with Chaeyoung.

Everyone loved meat so this place was always their favorite, they also loved the drinks. When she got there, she looked for their usual table, almost at the end near a big window. All five of the girls were already there, she deserved a big entrance. 

When she reached the table she gave big smiles and hugs to everyone. Or almost. Dahyun, Chaeyoung and Tzuyu were sitting at one side of the table, so she greeted them first, making sure to hold Chaeyoung the longest, and the small girl didn't complain. She was sure she had missed her too. Then, Jihyo was at one of the extremes of the table, who she also gave a big hug and then there was the source of her sleepless nights. Jeongyeon smiled at her when they made eye contact and she really wanted to slap it away, or kiss it away, she always confused those two. Either way, she was no going to sit at the other extreme of the table just to avoid sitting next to Jeong, that would be stupid and everyone would question it, so she had no other chance but to get the courage, she grabbed the girl's shoulder in a reassuring way as if saying "hi" and took a sit next to her. No hug, but it was enough. 

Chaeyoung immediately gave her a questioning look but she answered it with another one indicating not to worry. They could talk later. Now it was not the moment to suffer about her love life, or lack of it. 

_'Ugh, great start, Nayeon, you rock_ '

"Did you guys already order?" She asked no one in particular.

"Yeah, they'll bring the meat any minute now, I also asked for a beer for you, is that okay?" Jeongyeon suddenly replied.

She looked at the girl who was already looking at her with a worried face.

_'What is she worried about? she knows what I order. Foolish'_

"Mhhm" she hummed affirmatively.

She could feel Chaeyoung's strong gaze but she didn't look at the girl. No one seemed to notice the strong tension between the two of them besides her best friend. 

"Finally we are all here, did you guys do well on your first evaluations?" Jihyo saved her from her awkward position.

"Oh, don't mention that, I forgot everything once I handed the last paper" Dahyun complained.

"Bet you failed" Tzuyu replied 

Tzuyu was really beautiful, extremely, which made it weird whenever she said things like this. She was really mean sometimes, but they all knew she was just joking. Nayeon had grown really fond of the girl ever since Chaeyoung had introduce them in high school, she was glad Chaeyoung had Dahyun and Tzuyu as friends when she had already left for the university. The three of them fitted perfectly. 

"Bet you'll be single for life" Dahyun counterattacked and that surprisingly made Tzuyu really uncomfortable. Nayeon wondered if it had anything to do with with the girl in between them. You see, Tzuyu could be really quiet and savage when needed, but she had one weakness, that everyone knew, everyone except for the source of that weakness. She had a massive crush on Son Chaeyoung, but she had never acted on it, and if you tried to talk to her about it, she was going to deny everything, but it's so obvious that Nayeon sometimes really wanted to slap her best friend and shout at her face about it. But no, Chaeyoung blindly believed that they were just really good friends and that all the things Tzuyu did specially for her and not for any of the other girls, were just normal.

Nayeon used to find it really cute, the girl is extremely jealous of people that talks with Chaeyoung and is not one of us, she is always buying her coffee, she is the first one to laugh at Chaeyoung unfunny jokes, and she is always looking at the girl, everyone wondered how it was possible that Chaeyoung hadn't realised by now. But now she doesn't think is cute to have a crush and not act on it _'C'mon Jeongyeon, I'm right here.'_

"Okay don't fight now, we are here to have a good time" Jihyo the voice of reason stated.

The meat and drinks and other food they had asked for arrived in a couple minutes, everyone got focused on that, while Jeongyeon got in charge of the grill. Dahyun and Chaeyoung started talking about some Netflix series they had been watching, Jihyo was helping the girl next to her and Tzuyu was still lost in thought. 

Nayeon poured her a drink and tried to give her a reassuring look. Tzuyu smiled back, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. 

After an hour everything was better, it was getting darker outside and the food and drinks cheered everyone up, this is what Nayeon had wished for, all six of them, just eating and laughing together. She was still pretty tense when it came to talk to Jeongyeon, but with the drinks she had now on her system, it was getting easier. Everything seemed a little bit more fun now, was it the alcohol? Maybe. But she was taking advantage of it. She looked at Chaeyoung, the girl was happy too.

But then she looked behind her. There was a girl, with pretty brown hair and a sweet smile, she was looking directly at Chaeyoung. Nayeon looked at her for a while, trying to see if she knew her from somewhere, but nothing came to mind. The girl wouldn't move, she seemed to be completely amazed by her friend and it was getting weird, so she decided to let this one know.

"Chaeyoungie, you got an admirer" She blurted. Chaeyoung looked at her with a questioning look so she pursed her lips to indicate behind her. Chaeyoung turned around, and the girl's smile grew even bigger. Chaeyoung looked slightly embarrassed now as the girl approached her even more seeing that Chaeyoung had seen her. 

"Son Chaeyoung" The girl smiled to her "What a nice coincidence to see you here"

Chaeyoung had stood up and politely bowed to the mysterious girl. 

"Hey..." Chaeyoung seemed to hesitate but then added "Minatozaki Sana"

The girl gave a little squeak. Which made Chaeyoung's face to become red. At that Tzuyu moved uncomfotable on her seat. Everyone was watching the scene but Tzuyu remaind looking forward with her hands grabbing the table. 

_'What's all this about?'_

The girl was going to say something when she was interrupted by another voice

"Yah Sana, what's taking you so long?" The voice asked with a sulky tone while walking towards, apparently, this Sana girl. A dark haired girl that Nayeon could sworn she had seen somewhere else appeared. That's when Chaeyoung lost all the color of her face. 

"Mina" She said. 

_'Oh no, not this bitch, I've been meaning to know her'_ Nayeon reacted at the name, trying to stand up, but Jeongyeon grabbed her wrist, preventing her actions. 

"Minari, Chaeyoung's here, why don't you invite her to have drinks with us?" The sweet voice appeared again.

"Sana, don't be silly she's clearly with her friends. Let her be. Let's go" Nayeon couldn't stand that voice. She really wanted to tell her a few things, but Jeongyeon tightened her grip and whispered to her ear "Nayeon, it's okay, let her handle it." She was mad, but Jeongyeon's voice worked wonders ir her, so she stayed. 

"Oh, we can hang out next time, Chaeyoung, would you like that?" The smiling girl implied

Chaeyoung was obviously lost for words, she glanced at Mina and then at Sana "Uhm, yeah, maybe" 

"Okay then, see you around" Sana said as Mina grabbed her and guided her to another table.

Chaeyoung looked all of that still standing, when suddenly Dahyun blurted out loud 

"You got a fan club, Chaeyoungie?"

At this Chaeyoung sat again while Tzuyu gave Dahyun a look full of pure hate. 

She tried to removed her wrist from Jeongyeon's strong grip but the girl suddenly moved her hand down, to grab Nayeon's hand intertwining their fingers. That caught Nayeon by surpise, but she was glad. Mad, but glad.

"That's one of my roommate's friend" Chaeyoung said. "She is lovely"

"Chaeyoung, you dumbass, she clearly likes you" Dahyun assured, gaining another look from Tzuyu.

_'Literally, it's looking all pissed right next to you, Chaeyoung, c'mon'_

"So that was your roommate, correct?" Jihyo seemed to be the only one asking the right questions.

"Yeah, that was Mina" Chaeyoung's voice lowered with every word. 

"She didn't say anything to you" Tzuyu began "You said her name and she completely ignored you" She was looking at Chaeyoung now.

"Well, yeah. It's okay, I'm used to it now, Tzuyu, don't worry" Chaeyoung stated innocently 

_'oh no, my sweet baby'_

_"_ That's not right, Chaeyoung" Tzuyu was mad. Suddenly Nayeon remembered she was mad too.

"Chaeyoung why do you stand everything she does? Nayeon finally found her voice.

Her little friend took some time before she answered "I don't know." She said calmly "She's not that bad, really. It's fine" 

"Well I trust you, Chaeyoung" Jeongyeon said. 

Their hands were still intertwined and they stayed that way until they left. After half an hour, everyone decided it was better to head back to the dorms. Nayeon paid and everyone got up. Jeongyeon was still holding Nayeon's hand. The girl wanted some explanation, but she'll ask her later. Now, they got out of the place hand in hand. Everyone saw. Chaeyoung too, so she smiled at Nayeon and she felt really happy at that moment.

_'See, Jeongyeon, it's not that hard'_

Everyone went to their respective dorms, Chaeyoung was in the same building as Jihyo and Jeongyeon. Tzuyu and Dahyun were in another one that was a little bit more far away than her's. She didn't share a room with any of the girls so Jeongyeon walked her. 

Walking under the moonlight holding her lover's hand was really healing. All her doubts were dissapearing. She was less mad a the girl next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" Jeongyeon asked in a low voice.

"I like it when you do this" She boldly confessed. There was nothing to loose.

"Really?" 

"Of course I do, don't you?"

They had arrived at nayeon's door. She wondered if her roommate was there. 

"I love it" Jeongyeon whispered

"Then do it more often, silly" Nayeon let go of Jeongyeon's hand and moved her hand up to caress Jeongyeon's slightly cold cheek. "You're cold" She stated. Jeongyeon moved her own hand up and grabbed Nayeon's hand on her cheek. "You're beautiful" She said. 

Nayeon removed her hand. "Yah, that doesn't have anything to do with you being cold"

"I thought we were just saying facts"

"You're stupid" 

"Fair enough" 

At that Nayeon heard movement from inside her room and decided it was time to go. "You have to go now, thanks for walking me"

"Always" Jeongyeon smiled 

"Okay you can stop now" Nayeon cringed. But she loved every word that came out of Jeongyeon's mouth. "Good night"

"Good night" And with that Jeongyeon left.

_'She'll be the death of me'_

She watched her go and then opened her room. Nothing could have prepared her for what she was about to witness, all the giggly feeling Jeongyeon had created was gone. 

"You" She shouted "What are _you_ doing here?" She looked furiously at the girl and then at her roommate and that's when it hit her. She could have sworn she had seen the girl because she had. It was the girl her roommate always hanged out with.


	8. Nayeon, you're a genius

That night Chaeyoung got to her room really happy. She had a great dinner with her friends and even though they complained about her roommate again, Jeongyeon had said she trusted her and that brought some peace to it all. She was not that dumb, right? She was also really thrilled for her best friend. She saw how Jeongyeon and her left together hand in hand, well everyone did, but no one really knew all of the push and pull they had experimented as well as Chaeyoung so she was proud of their development. Everyone at their own pace, right? 

The joy and excitement of the night quickly died down though, because it was getting late and her roommate hadn't returned. She saw the girl at the Bar and Grill, maybe she was still there. But still, she couldn't help but wonder if she was okay, maybe something had happened or maybe she was staying out, she couldn't know. It wasn't her place to know after all, but who could blame her for worrying just a bit. She looked at her phone tempted to text Mina, but she resisted.

It was now some minutes passed midnight and she felt the door. Mina had returned. The girl went straight to the bathroom and then to her bed ready to sleep. 

"How was your night?" She tried.

Chaeyoung saw how the girl had her phone and was typing something really quick. _'Maybe something did happened'_ She thought and tried again _. "_ Are you okay?" but Mina left her phone, turned off her light and turned around. 

Chaeyoung then went to sleep too, she was kind of worried but still, it was nothing out of the ordinary if the girl ignored her, it was just that she had been really proud of her little wins that she expected to receive some answers. 

The next morning she got up a little later than usual as expected of a Sunday. Mina on the other hand was already awake. She was on top of her bed with her legs crossed typing again on her phone. 

"Morning" Chaeyoung tried again hoping whatever happened last night, was better now. It wasn't. Mina looked up at the girl, but she gave her a serious face, like the ones she used to have on their first weeks as roomies and then looked down again. Chaeyoung felt like Mina needed some space, maybe she was going through something, so she got up and dressed quickly to go out for a bit. "I'll leave you to it, then, felt like you might need some time alone" And she got through the door. 

Had she done something wrong? _'Don't be silly, Chaeyoung, it probably has nothing to do with you'_

So she started walking around campus with no clear direction or a place in mind. It was a bit more chilly now, she was wearing a turtleneck and a long coat, she wished she had brought a scarf as well, but she was not going back, not yet at least. Soon enough she found herself near Nayeon's dorm so she took her phone out and dialled her number. 

"Chaeyoungie"

"I'm near your room, can I go there?"

"Yeah I was planning on talking to you either way" Nayeon said with a deep breath.

"Okay wait for me" Chaeyoung hung up.

'Weird. Maybe something went wrong with Jeongyeon'

Nayeon was alone in her room, she had answered the door after a few knocks and they were now with their legs crossed face to face on the girl's bed. 

"What happened? What do you need to talk to me about?" Chaeyoung questioned "Did Jeongyeon do something? 

Nayeon abandoned her serious face for a slightly red one. 

"Oh, she did" Chaeyoung smiled.

"She was so cute, Chaeyoungie. I was really mad at her for being so slow, but then I can't stay mad at her. " Nayeon's eyes really shined. "She walked me home and we were rea-" Nayeon suddenly stopped herself with a quick hand movement "Wait, wait, no" She got her serious face again "That's not what's important right now" 

Chaeyoung looked confused "What do you mean, just tell me"

"I'm trying" Nayeon insisted "Okay so after all that, whatever, I got inside my room and-" Nayeon seemed to be reliving the memories because she furrowed her eyebrows. "She was here" She said with a deep voice as if she was talking about her worst enemy, putting emphasis on every word. 

"Who?" Chaeyoung was now more confused.

"Mina" Nayeon stated with a disgusted face.

"What? How?"

"THE GIRL WAS HERE IN MY OWN ROOM, I SWEAR I-"

"Nayeon, calm down, explain."

Nayeon took a deep breath and stood up, going to her roommate's nightstand and grabbing a cute pink frame from it "Here" She said handing the picture to Chaeyoung who was completely lost "Why would I want that, Nayeon you're not-" 

"Just take it, Chaeyoung, God" Nayeon snapped. 

So Chaeyoung quickly and afraid of mad Nayeon took the frame and looked at it. In the picture there were three girls, one was at the back making a weird face, almost as if she was not supposed to be in the picture and at the front there were the two other girls, one was looking at the camera and the other was looking at the girl next to her. 

"That's Mina" Chaeyoung stated. The girl looking at the camera was Mina, she had her hair a little bit shorter, but it was her. 

"Yeah," Nayeon began again "And that's my roommate, Momo, you've seen her" She said pointing at the girl next to Mina. "They're besties" Nayeon added with a mocking voice for the "besties" part.

That's when Chaeyoung suddenly put it all together, Mina was here last night, with Nayeon, and now all her progress was over. Her friend had something to do with that, she was sure. 

"Oh no, Nayeon, what did you said to her!?" Chaeyoung cried.

"Chaeyoungie, you have to understand, last night I did have one or two drinks, I was not completely-"

"NAYEON WHAT DID YOU SAY TO HER?" Chaeyoung was frustrated.

"Okay, okay, I was surprised. I asked what she was doing here and Momo answered everything for her, that girl, I have to talk to-"

"Nayeon, please" Chaeyoung insisted.

"Right, sorry. Well she looked kind of scared, I was yelling, you know? sorry, but I was," Nayeon corrected herself "I am, really mad at her. I hate the way she treats you and..." 

That's how Nayeon began explaining everything she had said to Mina last night it turns out she was more mean than she had intended.

"She's my friend, Nayeon, what's the matter?" Momo asked her slightly raising her voice due to Nayeon's reaction.

"Friend? How can you be friends with her? She's a homophobic piece of-"

"Hey" Momo interrupted her "Watch your mouth"

"Do you know how your amazing _friend_ has been treating MY friend?" Nayeon blurted.

That's when Mina grabbed Momo's wrist who was about to go to Nayeon and probably do something she would regret later. "Wait" She said in a low voice. "She's right, let her" 

"Oh so you're admitting it" Nayeon began again "Don't you have any shame?, my sweet baby has been behaving like a fool in her own room just because of you- And what's with the tape, uh?" Nayeon was in a monologue now "You can't forbid her to walk freely in her own room, what's the matter with you. She's not a going to do anything to you. She might like girls, but what's with that, uh? Tell me. That doesn't mean she has a crush on every girl she meets, I don't know who told you that. Or I don't know if anyone has told you this but YOU are not the center of the universe. I'M A LESBIAN, so what? I don't like you, I even despise you, the-" 

At that Momo got up again, putting an end to Nayeon's scene. "Enough" She said.

"Enough?! I'm just starting, you-"

But this time Mina got up making Nayeon stop, she got closer to Nayeon and raised her head. "Sorry" She simply said looking directly at Nayeon's eyes. She then gave a look to Momo and left, leaving Nayeon to yell at her roommate.

Now in Nayeon's room Chaeyoung was completely frozen after Nayeon ended her story.

"Chaengie, say something please" 

"Nayeon I love you" Chaeyoung began slowly "But I was handling things, you didn't have to defend my honor like that, and what's with you saying that I've been acting like a fool, I haven't." Chaeyoung pouted.

"Okay, if you say so" 

"You shouldn't have done that, but I forgive you because I know you drank last night, okay? But, if you ever see her again I want you to apologize, promise?"

"You have to be kidding me" Nayeon laughed. "Of course I won't. Didn't you hear what I said? She apologized to me." 

That's right, Mina had said sorry to Nayeon, which indeed proved everything Chaeyoung had been saying this whole time. The girl was trying. Chaeyoung now felt bad.

"You will. You shouldn't have yelled" Chaeyoung sighed "I've been telling you all that it's complicated. She is... complicated" Chaeyoung stated looking at the ground.

"Chaeyoung don't do this"

"What?"

"This. You're starting to worry too much about her, you don't even know the girl."

Chaeyoung could feel real concern on her friend's voice so she just said "It's okay, just trust me. Jeongyeon does." 

At that Nayeon seemed to think for a moment. "Okay I will, I do, I always do but just be careful, okay? this girl shouldn't be that important"

But for Chaeyoung, who was already thinking of ways to apologize and regain her roomie's sweet voice, it might be too late. After that, she left Nayeon's room with only one thing in mind. 

*  
*  
*

Mina was, once again, a mess.

'What's with all these people suddenly making me feel so guilty?' 

Momo had called her out, then Sana completely broke her and now this Nayeon girl, defending Chaeyoung, who probably would have yelled at her too if she wasn't such a nice person to do it herself. Yeah, Chaeyoung was too nice for her own good, just like Sana. Mina thought that maybe the two of them could probably make a great pair. 

_'But isn't it that opposites attract?'_

Either way, last night she left Momo's room completely lost. Was she really that hideous? They were the ones wrong, weren't they? Clearly no one could see that and that's what was making Mina so unsure. If everyone seemed to be against her, then she must be wrong. She had tried to be herself around Sana this past weeks and it was really different, but a good different, Sana didn't mind her mean comments, that weren't mean after all, they were just of disapproval, she really believed they were more like a piece of advice, but deep down she knew the girl did not care at all. She couldn't change who she was. But it was refreshing. She liked Sana and now she could just speak her mind. And Sana had been right. To every comment that Mina made, the girl had a smart answer and Mina ended up sounding really dumb.

Momo seemed to like this new her too. It was everything much easier. Not having to talk behind her friend's back, which she knew had been really wrong, but she didn't dare to say it. There was even this sort of envy towards Sana. How could the girl be so positive and open and proud? Mina could never. She was too shy to go against any of the rules she had been taught to follow and respect. She was too afraid to try anything that she wasn't supposed to. Everything in her life was supposed to be perfectly meditated. There was nothing out of the ordinary. 

But now, everything seemed to be changing around her. Could no one see that? 

Last night she had walked around campus before getting to her room, she didn't want to see Chaeyoung. She was far too embarrassed. Everything that Nayeon girl had said was true, that's why she hadn't defended herself. Momo seemed pretty ready, though, Momo was always ready to everything Mina related. 

To make everything worse, when she got to her room that night, Chaeyoung had no idea and tried to make conversation again. Mina was really loosing it then, she didn't have to ignore the girl, but what could she say?

 _'Yeah sorry I got late I was too busy being yelled by your friend and then I took a walk to reconsider all my life decisions and beliefs_ ' No thanks, she was going to ignore her.

Then this morning, Chaeyoung was considerate enough to leave because she thought Mina needed some time alone, which she did, and she was so grateful that it was getting really hard to keep sanity, so she left too to breathe some fresh air. She walked for a few minutes and then got herself some coffee, it was really cold outside, so she went to the library to get some books she needed making the best out of her free time and when some hours had passed, she returned to her room. She didn't know if her roommate would be there, but she would have to face her sooner or later. 

She opened the door careful not to drop her books. No one was there, Mina felt slightly relieved. But then she noticed something; Chaeyoung had been here. Next to her bed, on top of the red tape, there was a tiny box with a note on it. Mina grabbed the box carefully, sitting on her bed to read the note that simply said in a messy handwriting:

_"Sorry "_

_'How deep'_ Mina thought and checked the box. There was a big piece of cake with some strawberries on it. It was really beautiful and it smelled great too. Was this the way Chaeyoung usually apologised? Because if it was, then Mina wanted to receive apologies from the girl more often. She perfectly knew that her roommate didn't have to apologise for anything so, she looked at the cake and left a big sigh. 

_'Jesus, Chaeyoung, you really are something else'_

Mina couldn't understand what was the girl possibly sorry for, having great friends? being extremely nice and patient with her? She had to do something. 

So she got deep in thought waiting for Chaeyoung to return, but first she took a bite of the cake, it was really delicious, maybe she could save some for the girl. Would she accept it? She left the rest of the cake on her night stand and after a few minutes she suddenly fell asleep while waiting for her roommate. 

For how long she slept she had no idea, but when she opened her eyes, outside it was already dark and in her nightstand there was cake. _'Cake?'_ Immediately she remember everything and got up looking for Chaeyoung. 

She found the girl straight away, by her desk, that she had had to get because Mina had taken the one they were supposed to share _'Mina you really are stupid'_ Chaeyoung was painting. She wasn't drawing on her sketchbook as usual, this time she had a medium size canvas and acrylics. Mina found herself staring. Chaeyoung looked really cute even though she could only see half of her face, she could see how concentrated she was and the way her hand moved so steady over the cloth. 

"You didn't have to say sorry" Mina suddenly got out of her trance and stated the words in a low voice, her normal voice. 

Chaeyoung got startled and made her brush do something it wasn't suppose to do.

 _'Great start, Mina'_ "I didn't mean to startle you" Mina lamented.

Chaeyoung turned around to face her "That's nothing, that's one of the thing I love about painting, you can always just paint over" She answered with a smile seeing Mina's worried face.

"I save you some cake" She tried to start the conversation in that direction again, which was so hard for her, she was never the one to initiate anything. 

"Didn't you like it?

"I did" Mina added quickly "I just wanted you to try it too, I noticed you like strawberries" Mina's voice died down with every word. This was harder than she expected.

"Oh" Chaeyoung seemed so surprised now, that Mina felt awful. Was it so hard to believe she could be nice? Well, she had created herself quite the reputation. "If you want me to, then I could have some" Chaeyoung replied getting up from her position and walking near Mina, stopping at the tape "It's true I like them" 

Mina looked at the girl for a while without saying anything. "Then you should take it" She said after what felt like hours.

Chaeyoung looked more confused than ever. Mina knew the girl was not going to take it on her own, because the box was on her side of the room so she also knew, she needed to allow it. 

_'Okay, Mina, you can do this. It really isn't that big of a deal. The world is not gonna end'_ She then remembered Nayeon's words about how she wasn't the center of the universe. _'Just say it'_

She looked at Chaeyoung's eyes, that were already on her. "You should cross it" Mina finally said. Chaeyoung's eyes widened but she didn't move. "Really. Just cross it" She insisted.

At that Chaeyoung took an unsure step, crossing the line slowly with one feet and then the other. She got near the nightstand and took the box with the cake. "Thank you" She said not once leaving Mina's eyes. 

Mina got up and left to the bathroom leaving the girl with a silly smiled that she never got to see. 

Chaeyoung then returned to her side of the room, just to cross to the other once again, and again, while taking bites of the cake until she decided to reached for her phone and text Nayeon. 

_To Nayeon💙_  
_"Nayeon, you're a genius"_


	9. Cute

Chaeyoung woke up that morning because her phone was ringing. Her alarm wasn't suppose to sound until 12pm so, she tried to ignore whoever was calling. It didn't work. Reaching with her hand not opening her eyes she grabbed the device.

"Mhh" She whined

"I know I'm a genius but why were you reminding me?" Nayeon's voice reached her ears

"Oh" She said, this time opening her eyes remembering the events from last night, she raised her head a bit to check if Mina was there, she wasn't apparently, her bed was made. So she sat on her bed to answer to Nayeon properly. "You cracked her" Chaeyoung finally answered.

"What are you talking about, c'mon Chaeyoungie wake up, it's late" Nayeon protested

"It's barely 10am, Nayeon please," She complained back "But, Mina. I don't know how much your words got to her but somehow now I can cross the line" Chaeyoung said while looking at the line on the floor, smiling without noticing. 

"Congratulations, Chaeyoung, now you're being treated like you were always supposed to" Nayeon answered with sarcasm. 

"Give me a break" Chaeyoung sighed. "Yesterday she was nice, I'm happy"

"Okay, so she's magically cured. Let's celebrate" Nayeon continued with an attitude "Or better yet, just continue with your life and don't go saying that you're happy just because someone that was awful to you with no reason is now being decent" Nayeon ended the call. 

"Hello?" Chaeyoung asked "Wow, this girl. Okay" She dialled Nayeon's number to finish the conversation properly. Nayeon answered right away.

"Wrong number" 

"Nayeon, say goodbye to me properly or I'll cry"

Nayeon left out a big breath "Goodbye, Chaeyoungie, have fun being treated like a human, love you" 

"Well that's close enough, bye, and thank you for defending my honor" This time Chaeyoung hung up.

_'That went well.'_

Chaeyoung decided to sleep for a few more minutes, she had classes at 2pm, she had time to get ready and get lunch too. She was in a good mood, not even Nayeon making fun of her could ruin that. Today after classes she was going to meet Dahyun and Tzuyu at the study hall, but they barely never studied. She would get there, Tzuyu would give her coffee as usual and then they'll try to study until some nonsensical quarrel between her two friends started. They bickered so much that Chaeyoung was not sure if it was only when there was other people around or if they were like that in their room too, how could they live together? Oh, but Chaeyoung was in no position to judge anyone's living situation so she would just ignore them, and that's exactly what happened that afternoon too. 

She got her coffee, they studied for a while and then she got tired of them, gathering her things to leave, the truth is that she also wanted to get to her room early just to see if Mina was there and how would things develop, since she hadn't seen her since last night. "If you keep fighting like that, maybe you should go to a couples' counselling " She joked once she had everything ready to leave. 

Tzuyu looked at her with an expression that Chaeyoung couldn't read and Dahyun just elbowed her in the ribs making Tzuyu leave her state of shocked. 

"Okay I was joking" Chaeyoung rolled her eyes "See you then. Please behave"

And she left without an answer, because they were just too much sometimes. Had she said something wrong? Whatever, they were the ones that couldn't stop arguing, she was not going to put up with that, not today. 

She got to her room and Mina was there. On top of her bed, where she had many worksheets and books all around her and she was typing on her laptop where some nice steady music was coming from. 

She left her things on her chair and sat on her own bed. "Hey" she tried.

"Hey" Mina said looking up for a few seconds acknowledging Chaeyoung's presence to then return to her task.

"Hard test?"

"Important project" Mina answered.

Chaeyoung decided that was enough, she didn't want to bother the girl either, she clearly needed to concentrate. She had done her homework at the study hall, there was nothing she needed to study for either. She could always draw something or keep working on her painting but she wasn't in the mood, so she looked inside her nightstand for her Nintendo Switch, she turned it on and got comfortable on her bed selecting some game, but she forgot to put on some headphones or lower the volume to not bother Mina. 

The device made a noise that resonated in the whole room over Mina's low music. Chaeyoung looked quickly at Mina with a sorry face "Sorry" She said.

But Mina had moved her laptop aside "You play? She asked with a curious face. 

"Uhm" Chaeyoung doubted. The truth is that she didn't. She had got the thing as a gift and she had tried some games but she barely used it. It just wasn't her thing, but she still kept it and used it from time to time, like now, that she really had nothing else to do. Seeing Mina's interest face caught Chaeyoung by surprise. "Not really I-" But Mina had got up leaving her things and crossing the tape like it was nothing, she got close to Chaeyoung's bed. "Let me see what you got" She added offering her hand to Chaeyoung so she could pass her the thing, which she did. 

"Really, I don't it's just-"

"Oh you're missing all the good ones here" Mina pouted.

_'Cute'_

"I guess so, the truth is I-" But Chaeyoung was interrupted once again

"Oh but you have Smash Bros" Mina approved with a smile. "We should play sometime" She added, and by "sometime" she probably meant now because she walked reaching the closet and opening one of the doors, there was a small tv that Chaeyoung had never really tried to use. They were suppose to work but half of them ever did. "Does this one work?"

"I don't know I haven't tried it yet"

"Can we connect it?" She asked lifting the Switch up.

Chaeyoung looked under her bed where she kept the box of the Nintendo, taking it out "Uhm yeah, you can..." But she decided to left her sentence incomplete because Mina was already taking everything they needed and skilfully setting everything up. 

_'Is she really that into this stuff?'_

After some minutes Mina called her to sit on the ground with her "It's ready" She said "Come"

Chaeyoung knew that since last night, Mina was making it clear that things would change but she never in a million years would've thought that she was going to be playing video games with her.

Chaeyoung was moving slowly so Mina called her again.

_'Get it together, Chaeyoung'_

"Are you okay?" Mina asked. 

"Yes, yeah, did you pick your character?" Chaeyoung babbled.

And that''s how they got into an intense game of Smash Bros, and by intense it meant that Mina beat Chaeyoung every time. 

"Are you even trying?" Mina questioned making fun of the girl next to her.

Chaeyoung had really tried but the combination of she being too bad at the game and Mina being so good, was just awful. 

"I am" Chaeyoung was less of a mess, she had left her state of surprise, she was just embarrassed now.

"It doesn't seem like it" Mina argued "It's okay though, I know I'm good" 

"Oh you're not that good" Chaeyoung lied.

"Right" Mina said while sending Chaeyoung's character to the infinity once again.

They had been playing for an hour now and Chaeyoung decided to get up.

"You're quitting?"

"I'm hungry, should I get us food?"

"Perfect" Mina got up too and started to put everything in place. After fixing the game stuff she also arranged her worksheets and books.

"Won't you finish that?"

"The project? I can keep working tomorrow, it's not due till next week" Mina clarified.

"What do you want to eat?" Chaeyoung asked, looking at her phone, apparently she didn't feel like going out so she was going to order something.

"Chicken" Mina clapped with a smile.

_'cute'_

So Chaeyoung order some chicken. 

After some minutes waiting she went to get it to the door and when she returned from the small hallway she saw Mina trying to remove the red tape from the floor. 

"Why did I buy such a good tape" She was mad whispering to herself.

_'cute'_

So Chaeyoung left the bags on her desk and helped Mina to take the tape out from the other side. But Mina had been so concentrated trying to stick out her own side that she hadn't noticed Chaeyoung had already take out most of it, so when she saw some feet on the ground, she lifted her head up in surprise.

"Here" Chaeyoung said handing her all the sticky removed tape. 

Mina looked like she didn't want Chaeyoung to see her taking it out and was about to say something but Chaeyoung beat her to it "It's okay" She reassured Mina "Now it's gone" 

Mina grabbed the thing and put it in the trash while Chaeyoung returned to the bags to take everything out. Mina then got a small table from the closet and put it on the floor between the two beds "Let's eat together" 

"Okay" Chaeyoung simply said putting everything on the table and then sitting on the floor. 

An awkward silence took place.

They had a great time playing and they only had to talk about the game or making fun of Chaeyoung's awful skills but now? 

Did she have to say something? Or would Mina preferred the quiet? Chaeyoung was okay with either, but she wanted to know the girl too and thinking how things had developed today, she thought there was nothing wrong with trying and make conversation. But what could she ask? There were so many things she could say.

"Do you still think I look like a boy?" Of all the things Chaeyoung could have asked, she chose this.

Mina looked at her, leaving some piece of chicken aside. She eyed Chaeyoung for a few seconds making the girl slightly self conscious.

"You don't" Mina said. "You... have quiet a unique style" She continued to Chaeyoung's surprise "It's cute"

' _cute?'_

"Cute?" Chaeyoung couldn't helped but ask.

"Well, yeah" Mina moved her hand trying to explain signaling to Chaeyoung "You are..." She hesitated and then added "tiny"

"Tiny?"

Mina nodded and kept eating her food. Chaeyoung on the other hand, had her face flushed.

What was she supposed to say? She was no that tiny, she was okay.

"I'm no that tiny"

"If you say so"

"I won't buy you anymore food"

Mina stopped eating "What? Why?"

"Because you're insulting me"

Chaeyoung found it really funny how she felt that her roommate wasn't insulting her before when there was a division between them but she did felt insulted now that she had called her tiny.

_'priorities'_

"I didn't know it was such an issue to you" Mina explained. "Please keep buying me food" she pouted.

' _is she for real?'_ Chaeyoung thought, there's no way this was her roommate of a month ago.

"So, you are only being nice because of the food?"

"well, yeah, what else?" Mina laughed.

' _cute'_

"Okay then, forget it" Chaeyoung stood up. "I won't buy anymore food"

"Then I'll put the line back down"

"You won't do that"

"What makes you say that?"

Chaeyoung thought for a moment. What made her say that? She had no idea what had happened in Mina's mind to make her regret her previous actions, she had seen her struggle and she was sure the girl was much more complicated than she looked, but what was she thinking? Until now she had no idea how Mina's mind worked because every time she thought the girl was going to do something, she ended up surprised. Like today. She knew the girl was not going to be mean, but she wasn't just that, she had also been nice. They had played and talked and ate and joked and now she had asked her to keep buying her food. But why? What made Chaeyoung so sure that the girl was not going to shut down again and looked at her with disgust.

Mina must have noticed Chaeyoung was malfunctioning because she stood up too with a serious face.

"Hey" she said in almost a whisper. "I-" Mina cleared her throat. "I never said anything but... I'm sorry, okay?" She sighed "I had no reason to treat you like I did"

That. That was exactly what made Chaeyoung so confused. See? had she seen that coming? She had not.

Chaeyoung remained in silence for some reason. That made Mina a bit worried.

"Uh, it's okay if you don't forgiv-"

"No, no, I get it" Chaeyoung finally answered. "I do accept your apology, I understand"

"What do you understand?" Mina asked with a voice that indicated she really wanted an answer. She had a conflicted face.

"I understand that we are all different" Chaeyoung tried to make sense "And that I don't know you, you must have had your reasons and if you didn't then, well, now your trying right? I..." Chaeyoung doubted if she really was going to say what she wanted to say "I heard you that day with your friend" She finally said.

Mina didn't react, she just kept looking at Chaeyoung expecting her words.

"Uh, it was not on purpose, you know, it was just that uhm, the walls." she explained "But yeah, you sounded really troubled and it seemed to me that you really were trying, or wanted to and that's, well, enough, isn't it?

Mina got closer to Chaeyoung making the girl slightly nervous.

"You really are something else, Chaeyoung" She smiled.

' _cute'_

That ended the night. They cleaned everything up and went to bed.

Chaeyoung found herself texting Nayeon for the second night in a row.

_To Nayeon💙_  
_Nayeonnie, I think there's something wrong with me_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thank you for reading. This is actually the first time i'm writing something like this so don't be afraid to leave your feedback or thoughts, i would really appreciate them. okay that's all take care <3


	10. Warmth

Today Mina had dance classes. She had woke up early to continue working on her project for a while, because she was supposed to get something done yesterday but that didn't happen.

She had got distracted playing video games. They were sort of a safe place for her, ever since she was little she had liked them, but her mother thought that that wasn't proper of a girl. So she only got to play in secret, at Internet cafés or with friends. Now she was older and there was no need for that, but with her studies and all, it was something that she had left at home.

She had a great time playing. And she was in a very good mood. Who would have thought that when you weren't wasting so much energy hating on people, everything was much easier. She felt relieved. A big weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She felt like herself.

It was 10 am and she had been awake for about 3 hours now, she was still in bed but she was working on her project. She turned her head around to look at the girl sleeping in the bed of the other side of the room. Mina had noticed she always woke up earlier than Chaeyoung. She had also noticed that the girl sleeps on her back with her hands up her head grabbing her pillow, looking really carefree as if there was nothing bothering her. She had also noticed that whenever she was about to sleep, a tiny lamp was on all the time. Was she afraid of the dark? Mina was curious. She found herself once again staring. The girl suddenly opened her eyes and caught Mina's eyes on her. They made eye contact for what felt like a long time but only seconds passed when Chaeyoung decided to break it.

"Morning" She said stretching her arms.

"Hi" Mina said and got back to work.

She felt embarrassed but it didn't show. Yesterday she had apologized and her roommate was nice enough to make it all a thousand times easier for her, claiming that she understood Mina's actions. She was really curious about what was that she had understood so she asked, she needed a different point of view. She needed someone to say anything that made sense, because she wasn't making any. And that's what she got, she was surprised. Everyone kept telling her how wrong she had been and how she needed to apologize, which she knew but Chaeyoung didn't say anything of the sort, Chaeyoung made her feel okay with herself saying that maybe she had her reasons, which she did. And that it was enough if she was trying, which she also was.

 _Enough_. That word kept running on Mina's brain all night. Chaeyoung thought that her trying was enough. Was it?

Mina was less of a mess she had been but she was still conflicted from time to time. Today, though, she felt renovated.

Because she was trying and that was enough.

Her roommate was full of surprises and Mina somehow was enjoying it, she could have asked for a better roommate, yes, but Chaeyoung was the roommate that had made her feel better and Mina, overall everything that she had made her go through or how she could have made her feel, was grateful that it had stopped, that's why when Chaeyoung had got up and was ready to leave and start her day Mina called her name without noticing.

"Yes?" Chaeyoung turned around.

"Uh," Mina was embarrassed. "Good luck today"

Chaeyoung smiled "You too" And she left. 

_'real friendly, Mina, well done'_

So she got on with the rest of her day until it was time to meet Momo and Sana at their dance lessons. 

"You look happy" Momo stated when Mina arrived. 

"Hi, Momoring" Mina greeted her. They hadn't seen each other since that day when they both got yelled at. They did talk on the phone about it though, so it was okay. Mina apologised to Momo for all the trouble and she also said thanks for standing by her side. She did not talked about her feelings of confusion and regret to Momo, because she was far to embarrassed to do that, so Momo just got what she could tell by Mina's actions and what Sana had said. 

"Hey" Sana arrived too hugging Momo and leaving her stuff on a corner, she also smiled to Mina. And Mina smiled back. The three of them were now okay. Today's lessons was really tiring, the three girls were exhausted and happy when it ended, still Sana asked if they should go together and grab something to eat. 

"Uhm yeah sure, I got tons of stuff to do but I prefer to ignore them all" Momo giggled.

"Yah, Momo, you should worry about your grades" Mina reprimanded her.

"They're okay, don't pressure me" She grabbed Mina's arm and walked with her. They were heading to a coffee shop nearby, it also had desserts and smoothies, which was what they were really craving now. 

"You still should be careful, Momoring, last semester was hard for you and you said the exact same thing" Sana added.

Momo just groaned and got closer to Mina 

"Okay, no need for that " Mina laughed "We are here" They got inside and ordered some smoothies and just one piece of cake to share. They sat at one of the few tables that were there, it was a small place but Mina liked it. Momo got next to her and Sana was at the other side. 

"Yummy" She said while taking a bite of the cake. It reminded her of the piece Chaeyoung had got her. 

"Is it tasty? I'm really hungry, we should've bought more" Momo said grabbing her own big bite of the cake. "Mhh"

"Did you like it? I could buy more for you" Mina smiled

"I knew you were in a good mood" Momo teased her. "Did something happen?"

"Not really, can't I just be in a good mood because?" 

"Well, yeah,"Momo began "But you know, maybe- whatever, I like you" Momo seemed to gave up trying to explain herself and then just blurted the last part. Mina thought nothing of it but Momo lost all the color of her face and began again "I mean, I- I like that you're happy" She explained stuttering to which Sana facepalmed. 

"Okay?" Mina was confused with the sudden act "I get it, thank you, I like it too" She nodded to Momo, who was to busy trying to regained her composure. 

"So," Sana tried to put an end to Momo's misery "How's Chaeyoung, Minari?"She smiled 

_'Ugh'_

"Why would you ask me that?" Mina furrowed her brows. "She must be okay"

Mina hadn't told her friends about how she had been being nice to her roommate or about the cake or the game or how she usually got food from her. Nothing. Her friends just knew about how they had met and how she had put a line in the room. That's why they looked at her with a weird expression when she called Chaeyoung's name in a loud voice. 

For the second time that day she had called the girl's name without realizing. 

Chaeyoung was paying for coffee at the register, hearing her name she turned and saw Mina, who was now cursing to herself under her breath. Sana on the other hand, had caught on what was happening and called for Chaeyoung again. 

"Come sit with us" She waved.

At that Chaeyoung looked at Mina as if asking for permission. _'When will she understand that I don't have to approve everything'_ Mina thought getting slightly irritated because, well, it was her own fault that the poor girl was traumatised about where to go and where not to. So she just nodded. _'This is going to be awkward'_

Chaeyoung reached the table "Hi" She simply said.

"Sit here" Sana was smiling too much. Mina just kept eating while looking down and Chaeyoung took a seat slowly.

"So this is your roommate" Momo spoked. "You got some friend, uh? I really like Nayeon but I never thought I'll ever see her that mad" 

"Momo" Chaeyoung acknowledged.

"Did you really flashed Mina?" Momo suddenly questioned without hesitation.

"Momo!" Mina quickly gave a disapproving look to the girl beside her.

"What?" She debated "I think is a badass move, well done, Chaeyoung" Momo put her hand up in the air asking for a high five.

Mina rolled her eyes and Chaeyoung hesitated but put her hand up too, completing Momo's action. 

"How could you have confused her for a boy, Minari?" Sana asked in her usual sweet voice while looking at Chaeyoung. Mina had noticed how the girl had not left Chaeyoung out of sight this whole time. "She's too pretty for that" 

Mina couldn't believe Sana's behavior. She wanted to leave, this was too much. She looked at Chaeyoung and apparently she did not seem to be enjoying it either.

"Thank you" Chaeyoung answered "Uh, you are pretty too" She added.

_'God, Chaeyoung you're too nice sometimes'_

At that Sana giggled and looked away. 

_'Don't act all shy now'_ Mina was mad, was Momo not seeing this? Why didn't she complain? Was she the only one uncomfortable here? That was too much, she got up real quick gaining a confused look from all three girls. Maybe she had acted too fast. 

_'Quick, Mina, think'_

"Uh, Chaeyoung, are you heading to the dorms? We should go" 

Sana pouted "No, don't go yet, we can all walk together in a while" 

"We have to go" Mina stated getting impatient.

Chaeyoung seemed to notice Mina's weird ways so she tried to help. "Uh, yeah, actually I need to go and finish something" She stood up too. "It was nice meeting you again" She said to Sana and then tried to high five Momo again, which Momo accepted happily.

 _'What a child'_ Mina thought of Momo.

"Okay then," Mina was in a rush "See you guys, bye" She passed behind Momo and grabbed Chaeyoung's arm leading her out of the place.

Outside she let out a big breath and released Chaeyoung to start walking away.

Chaeyoung caught up "Are you okay?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Well you left in a rush"

Mina didn't know what to say, she was just awkward with the whole situation. Could she just say that? She didn't like Sana talking that way. Would Chaeyoung understand? Had she been mean again? She had to explain herself but she did not understand either. 

"Why did you call her pretty?" She blurted the first thing that came to mind in the middle of her mental debate.

"Sorry?"

"Sana. Why did you called her pretty? Mina was loosing it.

"Uh, "Chaeyoung was confused "Well, she called me pretty" 

"So you call pretty everyone that calls you pretty? Mina was not making any sense now and she started walking faster. Chaeyoung had to caught up again.

"Uh, I don't, but she is, isn't she?" Chaeyoung answered slightly afraid of this Mina "But why are you mad I don't-"

"I don't like that" Mina confessed "I don't like her flirting that way"

"She was no flirting" Chaeyoung tried to calm Mina but it didn't work at all

_'Is she blind!?'_

"SHE WAS CLEARLY FLIRTING WITH YOU" 

"Are you mad she was flirting with me?"

"I don't mind her flirting with you, I just don't want to see it" Mina clarified "It's weird"

"Oh" Chaeyoung understood now, a bit. 

They had got to the dorms now and they were walking towards their room. Mina was still walking fast and Chaeyoung was right behind still lost. When they got inside, Mina let out a big breath.

"I-" She tried to explain. "I don't know why it makes me so mad" She confessed in a whisper. She did not know why she was saying this but it was true. And there was something about her roommate that seemed to make Mina not feel judged when she was feeling this way. 

She got to her bed and Chaeyoung hesitated for a moment if sitting next to her but then she preferred to sit on her own bed.

"I can't know either, Mina" Chaeyoung said slowly. "If you do not know then no one knows"

That wasn't what Mina wanted to hear. She had abandoned her furious state and was now feeling down. Why had she reacted that way? She thought she was making progress being nice. But she hadn't been mean, right? 

"Did it..." Mina felt exposed "Uhm, does it look bad that I left that way? 

"I don't think they realised why you were bothered, but it definitely was weird"

"Okay I can deal with that" Mina was feeling better.

"Uh, maybe you can..." Mina noticed how Chaeyoung scratched her head while talking. "Maybe you can play with my Switch" She finally said "Would you like that?"

The truth is Mina would really like that, she needed a distraction.

"Really?"

"If you want to, yeah" Chaeyoung then looked for the device and handed it to Mina.

"Thanks" She smiled a bit.

She felt warmth. There was something about Chaeyoung that made it easy to talk, which was weird because she spent weeks trying not to say anything to the girl, now she just could think about how much they could have share in those moments. Chaeyoung used to talk to her either way. She would say good morning and good night, she would even ask her things without getting an answer and she would buy her food despite the silence. Maybe she had enjoyed listening to her, and now she was not afraid of talking to her because she had seen the girl making a fool of herself. Chaeyoung was too nice, she deserved better than her, so Mina was going to be better. That's what she promised herself.

She left her thoughts and searched for something to play. She was comfortable in her bed with the device, she paused the game for a bit and looked at Chaeyoung, the girl had decided to keep working on her painting. Mina could see how it was taking form, it looked like a sunflower, but it had something different that she wasn't sure of. 

_'You're staring again, Mina'_ She thought and without realizing she left out a big breathcausing Chaeyoung to turn around.

"You got bored?" She smiled at Mina 

"Mhh" Mina looked away and grabbed her pillow putting it under her head while surrounding it with her arms. She felt warmth. 

"I'd offer you food but I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to get poor"

"So you are not a millionaire?" Mina joked

"Not yet" Chaeyoung objected.

"But I wanted to be your sugar baby" She pouted. 

At that Chaeyoung laughed at loud "Yeah sure" 

"Well, we have to eat, I can buy for the both of us today" Mina offered.

"That'll be nice" 

So Mina order some food and she kept playing while waiting for it, as Chaeyoung kept painting. The whole scene seemed domestic as if they had been friends for a long time. The whole vibe of their room, was something that made Mina really comfortable. 

_'Weirdly comfortable_ ' She thought ' _And warm'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, let me know what you think and if you'd like to answer i have a question.  
> Do you think is enough that Mina is trying? or is she really?


	11. Feeling

Chuseok passed really fast for Chaeyoung this year. She got to meet with her family, that was always refreshing and it gave her time to think and assimilate this past few weeks, not that there was much to figure out, but still. Unfortunately Nayeon's birthday was on the same day, so they couldn't spent it together and that's why they decided to meet once they had return from home so Chaeyoung could give Nayeon her present, but also to catch up on things, which wasn't going as expected.

You see, Chaeyoung has always been kind. She cares for people, she cares for her friends, for her family, she would make you feel okay if you're feeling down, she would try and make a fool of herself just because someone might need it. She's patient and understanding. Many could say these qualities made her a pushover, but she knows what she is doing, really, that's why she gets upset when their own friends doubt her capacities. She is kind but not soft.

So, Nayeon has been really getting on her nerves. Why couldn't she just trust her? It's true Chaeyoung has been a little more than just kind to her new roommate but, hey, she has it under control. Besides, Nayeon doesn't know everything, she can't see the things Chaeyoung sees, she just knows what Chaeyoung can explain with words and that's not the full picture, there're some things that she can't explain. There are some things that just feel different. Deep down she knows Nayeon just wants the best for her, but she has the right to be annoyed.

"Chaeyoungie you told me yourself that there was something wrong with you" Nayeon insisted. They had been discussing the same thing for some time now. They had met outside, but then decided to get coffee because it was too cold, so they were inside the same place she had encounter Mina and her friends.

"It was an impulsive decision, I shouldn't have texted you." Chaeyoung argued trying to explain for probably the fourth time that day. "I just felt-"

"Exactly, you felt, you shouldn't have felt, you shouldn't feel, not for her" Nayeon really disliked Mina.

"Nayeon, I know, it's not like that, we just get along now, for real this time" Chaeyoung had explained to her all about how they had fallen in this routine of ordering food, playing and joking around. "I got carried away by the vibe of that night, okay? That text meant nothing, I'm perfectly fine"

"So you just want to be friends with her?" Nayeon questioned. "With the enemy"

"She is not the enemy, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"This is nonsense" Nayeon looked at the time, she had to meet with Jeongyeon later.

"What time are you leaving?" Chaeyoung asked.

"You're so dumb, I'd leave now"

"Okay you're acting stupid"

"You're the one feeling things" Nayeon scoffed making a face.

"Okay then, if you're gonna be like this, I'm the one leaving"

"Great"

"Great" Chaeyoung stood up and was about to leave through the door when she remembered she had promised Mina some cake. _'Fuck'_ Nayeon was gonna make fun of her if she realised. But she was not going to wait for Nayeon to leave, that wouldn't make sense, so she tried to play it cool. She turned around reaching for the counter, she knew Nayeon was looking at her, but was not going to look at her. She asked for the piece of cake she wanted and payed, finally leaving. Once she was outside she felt her phone vibrate.

 _From_ _Nayeon_ 💙  
_is that for her?_  
_don't answer._  
_i can feel it, your face gave it away._  
_stop feeling things, chaeyoung, youll get hurt_

_'c'mon Nayeon give me a break, I'm not feeling things'_

Chaeyoung was really annoyed now. She got to her room in a bad mood. Quickly she left her things in her desk and went to the bathroom. Inside she allowed herself to breathe.

 _'She doesn't know everything_ ' Chaeyoung thought looking at the mirror, her hair was getting longer. _'She's not always right'_

Chaeyoung was upset. She trusted Nayeon too much, but she didn't want to hear was she was saying now. She only had said to the girl how she enjoyed spending time with her roommate, and how she had called her cute, making her feel nice. To which Nayeon had made a whole big deal of how Chaeyoung was feeling too much and how dangerous that was. But it wasn't.

 _'It's okay, Chaeyoung, she doesn't know everything about you'_ That was her final statement to then splash some water on her face and leave the bathroom.

"You okay?" Mina asked.

_'Right, Mina'_

She had forgotten she was not alone, she grabbed the cake taking it out of the box and handed it to the girl who was on her bed lying on her stomach.

"Here, your cake" She answered ignoring the question.

Mina smiled and took it while sitting, supporting her back with the wall. "Sit here" She patted next to her "Eat with me"

A week had passed since they had first played video games together, Chaeyoung liked to think of that day as a before and after, because they had removed the tape. Half of that week they spent it away from campus and the other half, even though Mina had been working on her project, they kept eating together or spending quiet comfortable silences in their room, where Mina would use Chaeyoung's Switch and Chaeyoung would paint or whatever she was supposed to be doing. Mina had been really nice in all that time, she thought that she was finally getting to know the real Mina. But it was still a surprise whenever she said things like this, because Chaeyoung respected the girl's space too much.

That's why she hesitated before sitting next to her and Mina noticed

"It's okay" She reassured Chaeyoung. "You have to stop getting surprised by everything I say, I can be nice, you know?"

"I don't doubt that" Chaeyoung explained "It's just that-"

"I know" Mina cut her off "It's on me"

They ate in silence, but their silences weren't awkward anymore, the problem was that in those silences, Chaeyoung felt funny.

_'C'mon, Chaeyoung, think of Frozen, conceal, don't feel. Nayeon can't be right'_

So she did the best next thing and broke it. "Did you do well with your project?"

"I'll know tomorrow"

Silence.

"How's the cake?"

"I rather eat the one with strawberries, but this one is tasty too" Mina explained. "Thank you, next time I'll bring something"

More silence. So Chaeyoung took one last bite before getting up.

"I have to finish this" She said while walking towards her desk, pointing at her painting. "But it's loosing it's form"

"Why?" Mina got up too. She wasn't supposed to do that.

"It was supposed to be sunflowers but now I just can't see it, can you?"

Mina looked at it for a moment "I did see sunflowers" she hummed "But it does have something different to it" She got closer to the desk. "It's still pretty, though" She added. "You should teach me"

_'Teach her?'_

"I don't think I could do that" Chaeyoung answered honestly.

"Why not?" Mina put a sad face. "I want to paint"

Chaeyoung thought for a moment, it was a weird request but it seemed sincere.

"Mhh you can paint this one" She decided. "Here" she added looking for her brushes, she organized the acrylics across the table and turned to Mina. "Just try it"

"Oh," Mina apparently was no expecting a positive answer or at least not right now. "Isn't this one for classes?" She inquired.

"No, no," Chaeyoung explained. "Those are in another room along with the ones my classmates have done too." She smiled "This one is just for fun"

Chaeyoung was now invested. This was her area of expertise.

"You should totally transform it" Chaeyoung was now encouraging Mina

"What?" And Mina was now confused. "But you have been working on it"

"No, don't worry, I just do it for fun. I want to see what you can do now, you asked" She felt excited. "And if you don't like it, we can always paint over."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive"

Chaeyoung looked at Mina expectant. She had forgotten all about Nayeon or how she was supposed to be upset. She had forgotten how she wasn't supposed to feel.

"Okay, I'll try I guess" Mina eyed the material on the desk, reaching for a color and adding some to the overly used palette she then took one of the brushes and looked at Chaeyoung.

"Just do whatever" Chaeyoung saw the look of doubt in the girl. "You can even just throw it" She made a hand movement "It can be relaxing when you're mad"

"I'm not mad," Mina complained "Teach me better"

"I never said I'd teach you" Chaeyoung clarified. "I'm just letting you paint, go on"

Mina was still hesitant, to which Chaeyoung was getting anxious so she took Mina's hand and just gave a quick brushed to the canvas.

"There" Said Chaeyoung leaving the hand.

Mina laughed "Okay, I get it"

So Mina kept giving brushes, more slowly than Chaeyoung had began. The sunflowers were disappearing. Chaeyoung fixed her eyes on Mina's every movement. She saw her adding more colors and doubting on how to grab the brush, but she didn't say anything, she was enjoying the silence.

Chaeyoung felt funny once again. But this time she didn't realized, she was too busy watching Mina's hand and then Mina's arm, and then Mina's neck, and Mina's face, and Mina's hair.

After some minutes Mina turned around, making Chaeyoung snapped out of her trance, but in doing so she accidentally touched her face with the used brush, leaving a tiny mark on her cheek.

"Oh, you got paint there" Chaeyoung pointed at her, almost trying to clean it with her own hand but then stopped and looked for a baby wipe, giving one to Mina.

The girl took it and cleaned right beneath where she was supposed to clean. "Thank you" She said.

"Uh, it's" Chaeyoung remembered Mina's words about how it was okay to sit next to her, this must be okay too, so she reached for Mina's hand again, the one with the wipe, and actually cleaned the paint from her face, in a quick movement, but she left their hands there for more than a second. "There" She whispered removing her hand.

Silence.

Mina then cleared her throat. "It's fun" She said. "I can continue tomorrow, or I don't know, you can transform it now" She put everything back on the table and left for the bathroom. Chaeyoung felt as if she left a little too fast, filling her mind with insecurities. Maybe she had overstepped.

_'Don't overthink it, Chaeyoung, don't feel'_

Yeah, she was feeling, alright. There was no point denying that.

Nayeon knows her too well.


	12. She really is tiny

Mina was happy because she had made a friend. An unexpected friend. Her room was now a place where she felt secure, she spent more time there than any other place, it was a comfort zone. Momo and Sana did not understand it but Mina had not put much effort in trying to explain why she was there all the time. She liked it that it was something just for her. 

It was weird for Mina at first, but now she just did not put it into much thought whenever instead of buying one meal, she bought two, or whenever she was not going to be in her room, she let Chaeyoung know, because she knew the girl might buy something for her too, or if she was going to be late. Not that there was an hour specify to be "late" to but it was this unspoken agreement between the two of them, that they'll spend their evenings together. 

So it was a bit of a bummer when she received a text from Chaeyoung saying that she was not gonna be there anytime soon. 

_From Chaeyoung :) 6:05 pm_   
_finishing my presntation_   
_ill be late_   
_dont wait to eat_

_To Chaeyoung :) 6:06 pm_   
_:_ _(_

_From Chaeyoung :) 6:06pm_   
_:)_

_'Clown'_

Mina had no idea why the girl was so bad at typing or why whenever she received a text from her, it came like some precise piece of information, without context or connectors, Mina had to decipher them. 

Chaeyoung had been working really hard preparing for a presentation this past few days, Mina didn't know exactly what it was about but it seemed pretty serious so it was understandable that she was not coming early today, here she wouldn't get much work done. Mina did not want to eat alone, maybe she could bribe Momo into bringing her dinner.

_To momoring 6:15 pm_   
_you look beautiful today_

_From momoring 6:15pm_   
_thank u_   
_wait_   
_you haven't seen me, what do u want_

_To momoring 6:16pm_   
_let's eat dinner_

_From momoring 6:20pm_   
_won't you eat with your new bestie?_

Mina could tell how jealous Momo was of all the time she had been spending with Chaeyoung, the girl did not try to hide it at all, but Mina could not be bothered, it was just Momo being Momo, at the end she would always be by her side. 

_To momoring 6:20pm_   
_I'll be waiting in my room_

_From momoring 6:21pm_   
_okay but im bringing Sana_

Mina was okay with that, the more the merrier, and it had been a while since the three of them had eaten together. Now she just had to wait for them to arrive. She looked at the painting in Chaeyoung's desk. It had now a blue background and the words "Mina is bad at video games" She smiled at the memory. Yesterday they had been playing and as if it were a miracle, Chaeyoung had won more times than Mina did, which was really saying something. And when Mina woke up this morning, Chaeyoung was already gone and in the painting was that text written in white letters. It turns out that since the day Mina had asked Chaeyoung to paint, they had destroyed the original painting completely and now they used it as a whiteboard, leaving silly messages, Mina had even bought more acrylics because she didn't feel like using all the girl's materials. What Chaeyoung didn't know is that Mina had let her win. It was just too easy, the first time she saw her won and how much she had celebrated were really funny, so she kept letting her win and now Chaeyoung had been bold enough to let that in the board, well, canvas. 

Mina decided to fix it, it was her turn to paint it, so she covered all the letters with some blue and left it there to dry, she would write something in a while before Chaeyoung arrived.

She felt some aggressive knocking and knew the girls were here. 

"Why you gotta knock like that" She complained to Momo once she had opened the door. The two of them got in passing by the little hallway and immediately throwing themselves in Mina's bed. Until Sana realised Chaeyoung's bed would be much more comfortable so she tried to lay there but Mina had stopped her. 

"Don't be a creep, Sana"

"But it's right there" She tried with her sweetest voice. "I bet it smells so good" 

"Yah, Sana stop it" Momo threw a pillow at her. 

"You just got here, guys, don't make a mess" Mina cried. Pushing Sana away from Chaeyoung's bed. "What did you bring?, Why am I not seeing any bags?" Mina questioned.

"Yeah, about that" Momo began with a guilty face. "We were to lazy to buy something so we decided to get here and ask for delivery" She hit Sana in the arm. "Order something" 

"You were supposed to bring food, Momoring" Mina complained 

"It's the same, we'll be paying, don't cry" Momo got up to hug Mina from the side.

"Okay hurry" She said to Sana while patting Momo's back. 

"On it" Sana smiled. Sana didn't ask what to order but they trusted her, anything would be fine by Mina. As they waited she let go of Momo and went to check on the paint, it was dry enough to write on it. She took the red acrylic and went with the word "Clown" 

She was smiling through out the whole process, she felt like a kid. Momo got next to her and supported her head on her shoulder. "What you doing there?" 

"Oh" She said acknowledging Momo's presence on her shoulder with a tap on her head using her free hand. "It's nothing" She didn't feel like explaining the whole thing. But she felt how sad Momo hummed and nodded before leaving her shoulder. "It's just a game" She added. But Momo did not say anything else. 

"Any minute now" Said Sana getting up and heading to Mina's closet "You have a table in here, right?" 

"Yeah, go on" Mina answered finishing with her task. She saw Momo on her bed distracted using her phone, she could feel the girl slightly annoyed at her so she lay beside her snuggling closer. "Momooriing" She began with a silly voice. "Don't be sulky" 

Momo left her phone and looked down at Mina "I'm not" she cried. 

"You are, I don't like it" Mina continue. "There's no reason to it" 

"I disagree" Momo tried to turned to the other side but Mina grabbed her tighter. 

"Oh so you are annoyed" Mina found the loophole and Momo groaned.

"You spend too much time with her" 

"You spend too much time with Sana" 

"That's different, we are friends"

"So are Chaeyoung and I" Mina stated.

"But all three of us are friends, you could be with us too, but you keep your precious Chaeyoung a secret" 

"Don't be ridiculous" Mina was running out of patience. 

"I'm not, Sana sees it too, don't you, Sana?" She asked the other girl.

"Don't get me in all that" Sana signaled to Momo but then added "Although it's true that you keep Chaeyoung all to yourself, Minari, you won't even get me her number" At that Sana felt the door so she turned to get the food. 

Mina got up "You're delusional, Momo" 

"Okay" Momo gave up but she did not abandon her mood for the rest of the night.

It was 9PM they had eaten all the food Sana order, they should have checked on her when doing so because the girl went slightly overboard and order too much food. But somehow they ate everything. Momo was still sulking now supported in one of Sana's legs while this one was sitting on the floor checking her phone. Mina was at the other side of the small table collecting the trash to clean it. Chaeyoung was going to get here any minute now and that made Mina slightly nervous, the last time all four of them were together, things were not so nice. So she was on a mission to kick her friends out without raising suspicion. 

' _it is late tough, why aren't they leaving'_ Mina had the strong feeling that Sana wanted to see Chaeyoung. 

"I'm sleepy" She lied. "What time do you have classes tomorrow?" She asked mainly at Sana because she had classes with Momo tomorrow.

"Mhh" Sana was distracted on her phone. "Let me check" 

"Momoring, we must get up early" Momo ignored her. 

"Oh I have classes only in the afternoon" Sana chanted happily. _'Great'_

She did not say anything else, just got up to put everything in the trash, then she put the table back on it's place. And she heard the door opening. _'Great'_

Chaeyoung got through the small hallway leaving her things on her chair with a grunt, that's when she realised there were more people in her room than usual.

"Oh" She looked embarrassed. "Hi" 

Mina saw how Sana got up real quick almost dropping Momo, who just gave her a nasty look before getting up too. 

"Son Chaeyoung" Sana smiled "Sorry for invading your space" 

_'Why does she always have to say her full name'_

"It's okay, hi Sana" Chaeyoung moved to sit on her bed "Hi, Momo, how are you?" She said looking at the still sulky girl.

_'Dumbass'_

But Momo tried to be polite anyway "Hey" she ignored the question "Sana, we have to go" 

_'_ _Finally'_

"But Chaeyoungie just got here" Sana cried.

_'Chaeyoungie?'_

"Exactly" Mina found her voice to save Chaeyoung. "She must be tired"

"Oh, right" Sana understood, getting closer to Chaeyoung she added "Then, could I get your number?" She handed her phone with a smile. 

_'Unbelievable'_

"Uh" Chaeyoung looked a little red, and gave a glance to Mina. 

_'Why are you looking at me for?'_

"Yeah, I guess so" Chaeyoung took the phone and wrote her number. 

"Thanks, I'll text you" Sana winked. 

_'Too much'_

"Well done, Sana, teach me your ways" Momo spat.

"Don't say that, Momoring" Mina complained. ' _Why would she say that?'_

At that Momo looked the worst she had looked through out the whole time in the room, and that's saying a lot. "Right" She answered. "Are you ready, Sana?" 

"Okay, let's go, I'll walk you to your dorm" Sana had her room in the same building as Chaeyoung and Mina but she offered to walk Momo to hers.

"Bye, Minari, sleep well" Sana wished the girl. "You too, Chaeyoungie" 

Mina gave her a quick smile and then walked them to the door where she grabbed Momo "Stop this" She whispered to her ear while giving her a hug. Momo hugged her back but she didn't say anything and they left.

Back in her room she saw a sleepy Chaeyoung cuddle on top of her bed with clothes still on. 

_'Cute'_

"Take your clothes off" Mina said moving the girl's arm so she wouldn't fall asleep but there was no need for that because as soon as she said those words, Chaeyoung's eyes opened wide. 

"What?" The girl asked confused, Mina laughed at her _'She must be really tired to not understand basic instructions'_

"You still have clothes on, put on your pyjamas if you're going to sleep" Mina explained with a voice that indicated how obvious her request had been. Chaeyoung got up lazily "Okay, mom" She groaned and left for the bathroom. 

_'Clown'_

*

The next morning Mina woke up in a good mood. She turned around to look at Chaeyoung but she had already left.

 _'Right, her presentation_ ' Mina thought she must have left early to get ready for that. She wished she could've say good luck or something so she reached for her phone and typed a quick text. 

_To Chaeyoung :) 9:30am_   
_Fighting!_

Chaeyoung did not answer but that was okay, she must be busy. Mina got up after a few minutes of scrolling on her phone, she had to go to classes too. While getting ready she saw the board-canvas had changed. It still had a main blue background but you could still see some red of the letters that were there before Chaeyoung had covered them with some white, and draw a quick doodle of a penguin, and above it there was an arrow signaling the word "you". 

_To Chaeyoung :) 10:04am_   
_What does it mean im a penguin?_

Mina took a photo of the board-canvas because she liked penguins, and this one was cute. Then she left for her classes of the day. She met Momo and the girl seemed better than yesterday, that was good. When she was in the middle of falling asleep during one of the lectures, her phone vibrated. 

_From Chaeyoung :) 12:23pm_   
_You waddle_   
_thank u_

Mina got confused for a second, Chaeyoung's way of texting was really annoying, but she found it fun in a way. She figured that she had said thank you at her first text and that she was a penguin because she waddles. _'I don't waddle'_ She put her phone back in her pocket to keep paying attention, or trying. Momo was next to her already snoring and drooling. She'd have to wake her soon because the class was about to end.

When the professor dismissed the class, she took advantage of sleeping Momo and took a picture of her. It might be useful in the future. She then woke the girl up who was really confused of space and time. They grabbed lunch together and parted ways because they had different lessons now.

Before leaving Momo apologised for her behavior yesterday. Mina found it really admirable that she had apologised. And she also was glad because it really didn't make sense. Momo's motives were really not there.

"Thank you, I don't like sulky Momo" Mina thanked.

"You don't like any Momo" The girl looked away.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Apparently Momo was not okay after all.

"Nothing, really, sorry" She looked up smiling. "I'll try and behave"

Mina was not buying it but she didn't want to pressure the girl either so she just let it go. "Momoring, if you need to talk to me about something just do it, okay, I'm here for you always" Mina tried to make her feel better, but it was hard for her because she was never the one giving comfort.

"Thank you, I have to go now, you too." Momo hugged Mina for a minute and then left.

 _'Sulky_ '

She finished her clases for the day around 5pm and was more than happy to finally head back to her room. On her way there she texted Chaeyoung to let her know she was going to be there soon and to not buy anything, because she was going to. She didn't buy cake, but cookies. Chocolate chip cookies. It wasn't dinner but they could buy that later. Chaeyoung did not answer even though by this time of the day she must have been done with her presentation, but Mina ignored it.

What Mina didn't know is that she was going to get to her room, that for some reason was really dark, to find a curled up Chaeyoung sitting in the corner of her bed, with the courtins closed.

_'Oh no'_

She left her things on her bed and got closer to Chaeyoung.

"Hey" She tried in a low voice. Cheyoung did not answer. Mina felt a bit lost, she was not good at this things. She was always receiving comfort, not the other way around. And she didn't know what had happened either.

"Are you okay? " She asked _. 'Of course she's not okay, Mina what kind of question is that_ ' Mina cursed herself.

Chaeyoung lifted her head up from between her legs just a bit to looked at Mina. She was crying. Her eyes were red and her lips were quivering.

"Hey" She said in almost a whisper.

"What happened?"

Chaeyoung put her head back again. "I failed" She sobbed. "I don't know what happened I-" But she was stopped by her own muffled cried.

At that Mina reacted and sat next to her putting a hand on her back. "Hey" She whispered. "Breathe" She tried calming her roommate's whimpers by caressing her back softly. It did not work apparently because with every stroke on her back, Chaeyoung left out more whimpers. "It's okay" Mina tried again.

"It's not, it really isn't" Chaeyoung tried to talk between sobs. "I just froze"

"In your presentation?" Mina guessed.

"I couldn't do it" Chaeyoung said sniffing. "Everything was okay and then- then I- I don't know what happened"

Mina did not know what to say. Apparently Chaeyoung had failed her presentation because she couldn't do it. Was it nervousness? Did she had stage fright?

So Mina didn't say anything, she just stayed there waiting for Chaeyoung to stop crying while patting her back. The only sound in the room were Chaeyoung's sobs. Mina felt useless, frustrated even, because she wanted to make the girl feel better, she just didn't know how.

Minutes passed and her sobs were decreasing, but Mina was still caressing her back, thinking about how this was the most physical she had ever been with the girl. Was it okay? Chaeyoung didn't seem to mind, but still, she wasn't in her right mind. Mina just thought that this is what you were supposed to do when someone was feeling like that, so she kept doing it, hoping for the girl to calm down. After another couple of minutes, Chaeyoung wasn't crying out loud, she was just breathing weirdly and shaking a little with her face still hidden. The quiet atmosphere of the room made Mina slightly nervous, she wanted clown Chaeyoung back. But she didn't feel uncomfortable, it was quite the opposite. She wasn't sure she was helping the girl, but she got lost in every movement, stopping with her strokes she just got closer and held Chaeyoung tight.

_'She really is tiny'_

She could feel Chaeyoung's agitated breathing. "Hey" She tried again. "It's over now"

Chaeyoung took a deep breath and looked up slowly, turning around to face Mina. Her eyes were watery, Mina felt awful.

"Did you cry enough?" She asked while carefully wiping a single tear falling down Chaeyoung's cheek. She could see how Chaeyoung closed her eyes at the contact, so she left her hand there and Chaeyoung didn't open her eyes again, so Mina kept staring at her face. She saw how tight she was closing her eyes, how her cheeks were pink, how her lips were still quivering from time to time and her little mole right beneath them. The hand that was holding her face, could feel how the crying had made the girl's temperature rise.

"Does your head hurt?" She moved her hand to Chaeyoung's forehead. Chaeyoung nodded while opening her eyes, so she removed her hand and stood up to search inside her nightstand for a painkiller, she took a water bottle that was on top and handed it all to the fragile girl in front of her. "Take it". Chaeyoung did it all really slow and Mina kept staring at her from her position standing up, suddenly she missed Chaeyoung's heat. 

"Do you want a cookie?" Mina asked, not really knowing what else to offer. "Chocolate chip cookie" Chaeyoung nodded, so Mina turned to get the package, opening it and extending her hand so Chaeyoung could get a cookie, but the girl didn't move and opened her mouth instead. 

"Okay now you're just taking advantage of my kindness" Mina complained to which Chaeyoung moved her head from left to right denying the accusation and opening her mouth again. So Mina left out a big breath and took a cookie with her hand to give it to the girl. Chaeyoung took it gladly. 

_'Okay she's back'_

"Do you wanna talk about it?" She moved to sit next to Chaeyoung again, this time she kept her distance, the girl wasn't crying anymore so there was no need to get any closer. Chaeyoung shook her head again. 

"Do you wanna talk at all?" Chaeyoung looked away as if thinking about it and then she shook her head again one last time before getting closer to Mina and leaning down to support her head on Mina's lap. Mina was taken aback, but she tried not to react, because Chaeyoung was already in a bad state, she didn't want to make her feel worst. For a moment she just let her be, but then she moved her hand to Chaeyoung's hair. Why? Because it looked soft. So she started playing with her hair. Now there was actual silence as Chaeyoung was no longer crying or sniffing, but it was a nice silence.

"Your hair is getting longer"

"I know" Chaeyoung finally said something again. Her voice was raspy and low.

They stayed like that for some time until Chaeyoung spoke again. 

"I'm sorry" She began. "I shouldn't have lost control like that" Mina could feel the girl getting slowly agitated again. "You shouldn't have seen me like that, I should've-"

"No, don't say that" Mina cut her off, moving her hand from Chaeyoung's hair to Chaeyoung's back once again. "You would've done the same for me" 

"I wouldn't" Chaeyoung joked causing Mina to push her out of her lap.

"Hey" Chaeyoung protested. 

"You deserved that" 

"But I'm hurting"

"That doesn't mean you can be mean to me"

"I'm not" Chaeyoung tried to get on Mina's lap once again and Mina didn't stop it. "You know I was just joking" 

It's true, Mina knew she was just joking, because there's no way the girl wouldn't have done the same for her. She probably would have done better. 

"I guess you're feeling better"

"Thank you"

"You owe me now"

"Okay" Chaeyoung accepted without protesting, and got up. "What do you want?"

Mina thinked for a moment, she wanted her happy roommate back, but she would never say that, so she spent time looking around the room, that's when she saw the board-canvas and remembered something.

"I don't waddle" She frowned.

Chaeyoung laughed at the sudden statement. "But you do"

"How so?"

"You just do, sometimes" 

"How would you know that, do you stare at me all the time?" Mina felt embarrased while saying those words because she was the one always staring at her roommate.

"You wish" Chaeyoung grinned. _'Clown'_

"I'm not Sana" 

At that Chaeyoung made a face and groaned "Mina, about that" She began "I know she is your friend and all but the girl is really intense"

"Okay, why are you telling me, there's nothing I can do" Mina scoffed. _'I don't want to know about her lovers'_

"I just, she's been texting me nonstop, maybe you could tell her to calm down" 

"Are you serious right now?" Mina got annoyed. "You tell her that" 

"But -" 

"Please, Chaeyoung, you don't have to be nice all the time" Mina got up "If you don't like it, then tell her" She saw how troubled Chaeyoung looked, so she grabbed the girl's phone that was on her nightstand in a rushed decision and turned to Chaeyoung. 

"Unlock it" She commanded. Chaeyoung looked at her with a weird face but complied either way. At this point Mina knew she was doing something wrong, but she kept doing it ignoring all her rational senses.She serched for Sana's contact and saw all the unanswered texts. 

"Okay you were not exaggerating" She accepted Chaeyoung's complain.

"Wait, Mina, what will you do?" Chaeyoung tried to grab the phone but Mina turned around.

"You asked for help" Mina was just going with it now. _'You will regret it later, Mina'_

"Shut up" She said out loud without realising. _'shi_ _t'_

"What?" Chaeyoung try to grab the phone again.

"Nothing" Mina moved again. "Trust me" she added. _'You don't even trust yourself'_

_To Sana 7:34pm  
_

_I'm seeing someone, pls stop texting me._

"There" She handed Chaeyoung her phone. "She must stop with that"

Chaeyoung's face dropped while reading the text. "Mina, why did you write that!?" She could see how the girl looked more troubled now. 

_'Okay, that wasn't suppose to happen'_

"I'm doing you a favor" Mina tried to explain. "You were too nice to say anything, now she'll stop" 

"Okay but you didn't have to lie like that" Chaeyoung insisted. "Oh god she answered back"

_From Sana 7:36pm  
You should have told me before, sorry for bothering you, chaeyoung :(_

_'how nice'_

"She's sad" Chaeyoung was panicking now. "I'll call her"

"And tell her what?"

"That you took my phone"

"And would she believe that?" Mina felt so guilty. "It doesn't make sense"

"Right, okay, I'll tell her I was joking"

"Why would you do that, you wanted her to stop, now she won't try again"

Chaeyoung let out a groan. "Okay" She said. "Thanks, I guess"

Mina had no idea how they move on from Chaeyoung crying to this. She preferred the quiet and peace of some moments ago. It was all her fault. She preferred to have the girl on her lap again than panicking over Sana's feelings. Yeah, it was all her fault. 


End file.
